June 29, 2009 - 12:14AM

North Korea threatened on Sunday to bolster its nuclear deterrence
against the United States, as the leaders of key US allies South Korea
and Japan discussed tensions on the communist state.

Pyongyang's ruling communist party newspaper Rodong Sinmun said the
North's nuclear drive could be justified by the "US introduction of
nuclear weapons into South Korea."

"We will strengthen our nuclear deterrence further for our self-defence
to cope with outright US nuclear threats and nuclear war attempts,"
Rodong said.

Seoul and Washington have long denied there are US nuclear weapons on
South Korean soil and insist they have no plans to invade the North.

The latest threats came as South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak visited
Tokyo to hold a summit with Prime Minister Taro Aso on North Korea and a
number of other issues.

Tensions have mounted here since the North's long-range rocket launch on
April 5 and its second nuclear test on May 25, which resulted in new
tougher UN Security Council sanctions on the impoverished communist state.

Pyongyang on Saturday threatened to shoot down any Japanese plane
entering its air space, accusing Japan's AWACS aircraft of spying on
missile bases on its east coast.

It "will not tolerate even a bit the aerial espionage by the warmongers
of the Japanese aggression forces but mercilessly shoot down any plane
intruding into the territorial air of the DPRK (North Korea) even 0.001
mm," read an air force statement carried by the North's official news
agency.

The North has often denounced US aerial espionage, but rarely Japanese.

Seoul officials believe the North will fire short-range or mid-range
missiles off its east coast from June 25 to July 10, after it warned
foreign ships to stay clear of a specific area during the period.

Washington has said it is prepared for Pyongyang's possible firing of a
long-range missile towards Hawaii, perhaps on July 4, US Independence Day.

As part of efforts to curb the North's weapons programmes, a US
destroyer is shadowing a suspicious North Korean cargo ship last
reported heading for Myanmar. Myanmar has dismissed the reports as
"rumours."

Pyongyang's government-run weekly, Tongil Sinbo, Sunday denounced
President Lee's recent comments that he would pursue the reunification
of the two Koreas "on the basis of free democracy and market economy."

It accused Lee's remarks of being aimed at "breaking down the North's
ideology and system" as part of Seoul's plan to absorb the communist
state for reunification.

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