The Korean Central News Agency warned Wahsington and its East Asian allies late Sunday against pressuring the North not to test-fire a new long-range rocket, which experts believe could hit parts of the US mainland.

"From international usage, whether a country launches satellites or missiles belongs to its sovereignty," it said in a dispatch monitored here.

"Moreover, (North Korea) is exposed to permanent nuclear and missile threats from the United States and other foreign aggressors.

"So, (North Korea's) missile development is a legitimate exercise of sovereignty to defend peace and security of the country from A to Z.," it said.

The agency attacked the United States and Japan for planning a regional Theater Missile Defence (TMD) system to counter possible North Korea missile attacks as an aggressive move which could lead to war.

"The US warhawks, the Japanese reactionaries and the South Korean rulers tighten military tie-up in a bid to provoke a new Korean war, taking issue with (North Korea) over non-existent 'missile threat'."

It warned that this "increasing military pressure" on the unpredictable North "will only give rise to irrevocable consequences."

The strident verbal attack came ahead of the start of talks between US and North Korean officials in Berlin on Tuesday aimed at bosting relations betwen the old foes, notably by resovling Pyongyang's missile threat.

Seoul officials and analysts were cautiously optimistic that a compromise would be hammered out at the five-day negotiations. The talks come almost exactly a year after Pyongyang's last test of a medium range missile over Japan.

North Korea has said it will act in "good faith" if the United States drops its tough stance towards the communist rogue state.

Analysts expect the North to push for massive economic and diplomatic benefits in Berlin in return for pledging not to launch a new longer-range Taepodong II missile.

"In such a context, the United States appears to be focussing more on benefits for the North if it renounces a missile test, rather than on sanctions against it if it goes ahead," an official said here. Meanwhile, South Korea says ut won't join US-Japan missile defense programme. Foreign Minister Hong Soon-Young said South Korea will not join an anti-missile defense programme pursued by the United States and Japan, news reports here said Sunday.

Hong made the statement when he met with Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev Saturday, the reports said, quoting a South Korean foreign ministry official who attended the Hong-Sergeyev meeting.

Russia opposes the Theater Missile Defense (TMD) system, arguing it could spark an arms race in Asia.

South Korea has said it lacks the necessary technology and financial means to join the expensive anit-missile defense system.

Sergeyev said Moscow was opposed to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction on the Korean peninsula, reffering to concerns over North Korea's development of long-range missiles.

During his talks with South Korean counterpart Cho Sung-Tae on Thursday, Sergeyev was quoted as telling Cho that Russia highly appreciates South Korea's efforts to dissuade North Korea from launching another missile.

Sergeyev arrived here on Thursday on a three-day official visit.

North Korea shocked the region by firing a suspected medium-range Taepodong-I missle over Japan and into the Pacific in August last year. Pyongyang claimed a satellite was lifted into orbit in the launch.

But the fears over the North's second missile test have recently eased with the Stalinist North offering signs of a willingness to negotiate the issue with the United States.

Washington and Pyongyang are now scheduled to hold crucial talks in Berlin September 7-11, with the missile issue expected to dominate the bilateral talks.

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