North Korea Predicts U.S. Attack

North Korea said Friday that President Bush's comment that he did not rule out military force against the North signaled his plans to attack its nuclear facilities.

However, the North's official Central News Agency did not comment specifically on President Bush's call for regional talks involving China, South Korea, Japan and Russia, as well as the U.S., reports CBS Newsman Don Kirk. The commentary, however, repeated North Korea's insistence that the U.S. settle the crisis through dialogue and negotiations directly with Pyongyang.

Mr. Bush's remarks are "an undisguised revelation of the U.S. intention to make a pre-emptive strike at the DPRK's nuclear facilities," said KCNA, the North's state-run news agency. DPRK stands for Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

In a recent interview with various U.S. newspapers, Mr. Bush said efforts were underway to persuade China, Russia, South Korea and Japan to work with Washington in seeking a diplomatic solution to the standoff over North Korea's nuclear programs.

If such efforts "don't work diplomatically, they'll have to work militarily," he said. "And military option is our last choice...I believe we can deal with this diplomatically."

Meanwhile, South Korea's defense chief said he opposes moving U.S. troops away from the tense border with North Korea before the dispute over the communist state's nuclear program is resolved, while the defense ministry demanded that North Korea stop creating tension through military activity. The defense ministry cited as a prime example the interception of a U.S. spy plane by four North Korean jet fighters last Sunday, 150 miles east of the North Korean coastline.

It was the first official comment by the South Korean government about the episode. South Korea's president has upset U.S. officials by remaining silent on the incident, while suggesting the U.S. not raise tensions by applying too much pressure on the North.

Cho Young-kil said South Korea will consult with Washington to relocate U.S. troops in South Korea "on a long-term basis, considering the security circumstances on the Korean Peninsula."

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld indicated Thursday that he wants U.S. troops stationed near the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea to be moved farther from the heavily defended area, shifted to other countries in the region or brought home.

Cho also told a parliament hearing that the rocket North Korea fired off the Korean Peninsula's east coast last week was a new anti-ship cruise missile, but it appeared to have exploded in midair because of defects.

Long-range bombers were deployed this week to Guam as a show of U.S. military might as tensions increased in the standoff over North Korea's nuclear programs.

The Pentagon had ordered the deployment of 12 B-1 and 12 B-52 bombers last Friday to deter conflicts that could arise in the West Pacific, said Lt. David Faggard at the U.S. Pacific Air Force headquarters in Hawaii.

North Korea on Friday also dismissed international concerns over its nuclear facilities, reiterating that they were for the producing electricity.

"As far as the DPRK's operation of its nuclear facilities is concerned, there is nothing to arouse the U.S. concern nor is there anything to cause the international community to worry about it," said Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper.

Last month, U.S. and South Korean officials said that North Korea has reactivated a 5-megawatt nuclear reactor at Yongbyon that produces raw materials that could be used for atomic weapons. They are concerned that the North might reactivate a reprocessing facility that would enable the production of nuclear weapons within months.

"We would see that as a very serious step up a ladder of escalation that poses great dangers to the world and does not serve North Korea's interests," U.S. Ambassador Thomas Hubbard said Friday in Seoul.

Hubbard said such a step would lead to further isolation for North Korea, rather than the economic aid and security assurances it wants. He also dismissed Pyongyang's claims that the reactor was for electricity, saying it barely generates enough power to operate itself.

"We've tried bilateral negotiations," Mr. Bush said in his Thursday evening news conference, referring to an energy deal that Washington signed with Pyongyang in 1994. "The United States honored its side of the agreement. North Korea didn't."

The nuclear dispute flared in October, when U.S. officials said North Korea admitted having a covert nuclear program in violation of the 1994 deal. Washington and its allies suspended fuel shipments, and the North retaliated by expelling U.N. monitors, withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and restarting a nuclear reactor.

Also Friday, South Korea expressed concern over North Korea's recent military maneuvers in recent weeks, including the interception Sunday of an American plane by North Korean fighter jets.

The Defense Ministry urged North Korea's military to "act in a more prudent and responsible manner."

Last week, North Korea also launched a missile off the Korean Peninsula's east coast.

South Korea's defense minister said Friday that the rocket was a new anti-ship cruse missile, but it appeared to have exploded in midair because of defects.

The missile test fits with the pattern of recent North Korean maneuvers to force the United States into direct talks and ratcheting up tension, he said.