North Korean Official Blasts U.S.

North Korea's defense minister warned Saturday that a pre-emptive strike is not the monopoly of the United States, in comments carried by the North's official news agency.

"We will never sit with arms folded and watch until the U.S. attacks us," said Kim Il Chol, vice marshal of the North's Korean People's Army, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. "A pre-emptive strike is not the monopoly of the U.S.," he said.

The warning, which is not new, came as North Korea's top nuclear envoy was in Japan for a security conference that also is drawing his counterparts from the U.S. and other participants in six-nation talks on the North's nuclear program.

The privately sponsored forum, set for next week, comes as the North continues to boycott the talks over U.S. financial restrictions imposed for its alleged currency counterfeiting and other illicit activities.

"Now, the U.S. talks about six-party talks, but in reality, it has no interest in the talks and ... is seeking a chance to attack while putting us on its pre-emptive strike list," the North's defense minister said.

"If they ultimately ignite a fire to the fuse of aggression war, ... our army and people will mercilessly destroy the enemy," he said.

Last month, a North Korea spokesman said it would be a "wise" step for the United States to cooperate on nuclear issues with North Korea in the same way it does with India.

President Bush signed an accord in India in March that would open some of its atomic reactors to international inspections in exchange for U.S. nuclear know-how and atomic fuel.

The accord was reached even though New Delhi has not signed the international Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. North Korea has withdrawn from the treaty and condemned the United States for giving India "preferential" treatment.

"If the U.S. is truly interested in finding a realistic way of resolving the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, it would be wise for it to come out on the path of nuclear cooperation with us," the North Korean spokesman said.

The North's announcement that it has a nuclear arsenal risked escalating tensions in the prolonged standoff over its program and threatened the prospect of resuming six-nation talks on the dispute.

"We have built nuclear weapons for no other purpose than to counter U.S. nuclear threats," the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

It is rare for North Korea to mention its nuclear capabilities in such an explicit manner. The communist state usually refers to its "nuclear deterrent force."

North Korea first declared last year that it has nuclear weapons, although the claim could not be confirmed independently. Experts believe the North has extracted enough plutonium from its main nuclear reactor for at least a half-dozen weapons.

Six-nation talks have been stalled since November over a dispute surrounding financial restrictions the United States imposed on North Korea for its alleged currency counterfeiting and money laundering. Those talks involve the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.