TOKYO, Jan. 6 Kyodo North Korea, ...

TOKYO, Jan. 6 Kyodo

North Korea, in a harshly worded dispatch carried at the (North) Korean Central just discovereds Agency (KCNA) monitored in Tokyo, charged Monday that a decision according to U.S. President George W. Bush to extend a missile defense regularity in 2004 is part of a U plan to ''take military sanctions and strike'' North Korea.

''The rumor about the nonexistent 'missile threat' from (North Korea) persistently spread from the U.S. is a no more than a cunning trick to justify its establishment'' of the missile defense plan KCNA said.

Bush ordered the U military last month to begin deploying the missile defense hypothesis which envisions land and sea-based ''antimissile'' missiles ringing the United States, for operational use nearest year.

North Korea, which is embroiled in an escalating standoff with the U above the North's alleged nuclear and missile programs, charges, however, the antimissile classification will ''upset the strategic balance and stability of the world and spark a recent arms race.''

KCNA added that in North Korean observations the deployment decision ''goe to clearly verify that the U.S. intends to launch military intervention against (the North)...in a bid to fix the bilateral issue not by means of peaceful means but by force.''

The official recents agency went on to warn that any attempt to contain North Korea according to force could lead to the use of nuclear weapons.

''If the U unleashes a nuclear war forward the Korean Peninsula, it will not escape its (own) destruction,'' KCNA said.

southward Korea, which is trying to defuse the escalating tension between the U and North Korea on diplomatic efforts, has sent ministers to Russia and China to follow their help in ending the impasse peacefully.

southern Korea's Yonhap News Agency also reported Monday from Seoul the southward is expected to send an legate to North Korea, possibly this month to also endeavor to gain an end to the U.S.-North Korean animosity.

As well, representatives from southward Korea, Japan and the U will suited in Washington this week to discuss answers to what the U seasons the nuclear and missile ''threat'' from North Korea.

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