"We would expect North Korea to abide by the public commitment that it's been making as well as the ones that it's made in the past," Fleischer said

WASHINGTON, February 1 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The U.S. warned North Korea against taking the "provocative" step of reprocessing nuclear fuel rods to convert them into bomb-grade plutonium.

The warning came as U.S. officials reported that spy satellites have detected suspicious activity at a North Korean nuclear complex that could be the movement of the 8,000 rods, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported Saturday, February 1.

North Korea in turn made a new demand that the United States agree to a non-aggression pact to end the nuclear showdown.

"Any steps toward beginning reprocessing would be yet another provocative action by North Korea intended to intimidate and blackmail the international community," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

"Any such step would have the effect of further isolating North Korea from the international community, which is united in seeking a peaceful resolution of the current situation," the spokesman said.

U.S. satellites have detected activity at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex that could be the movement of fuel rods for reprocessing that could obtain weapons grade plutonium, U.S. officials said.

Two officials confirmed in general terms a New York Times report that said U.S. satellites have observed trucks moving up to a building that houses some 8,000 fuel rods at Yongbyon.

One official said it was "unclear" what the activity was.

But he added: "If the North Koreans are moving the rods, that would be consistent with what they have said they are going to do. If in fact that is what they are doing, it would be of concern."

The Times report said analysts had concluded the trucks were moving rods to a hiding place or to a reprocessing facility.

The truck movement and other activity at Yongbyon could allow North Korea to begin producing bomb-grade plutonium by the end of March, according to the unidentified analysts.

The satellite photographs have not been shared widely with U.S. allies, some officials told the New York Times, to avoid creating a crisis atmosphere giving North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il more leverage to extract concessions.

Despite the uncertainty, the daily said there is a growing consensus in the U.S. government that North Korea is working to produce bombs as quickly as it can, hoping it will give it more negotiating leverage once the Iraq showdown is out of the spotlight.

The United States supports the push by the U.N. nuclear watchdog to bring the North Korea case to the U.N. Security Council, which could impose sanctions on the Stalinist state, Fleischer added.

North Korea has insisted that it has no plans to develop nuclear weapons and State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Pyongyang should live up to those promises.

"We would expect North Korea to abide by the public commitment that it's been making as well as the ones that it's made in the past," he told reporters.

Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, said Friday, January 31, that "North Korea is in noncompliance" with nuclear nonproliferation agreements.

ElBaradei said he had asked the IAEA governing board to clear the way for the nuclear standoff to be brought before the council.

North Korea withdrew from a 1994 accord that froze its suspected nuclear arms development, after the United States in October presented evidence that it was violating the accord.

It has insisted that only a non-aggression treaty approved by the U.S. Congress would solve the new nuclear crisis and that it had no interest in multilateral talks on the issue.

North Korea's ambassador to China, Choe Jin-Su, said in Beijing that if Washington agreed to a non-aggression treaty, North Korea would be willing to "clear the United States of its security concerns".

"If the United States abandons its hostile policy towards our country to stifle us, and refrains from any nuclear threat towards us, we may prove through separate verification between our country and the United States that our country does not make any nuclear weapons," he said.

Fearing North Korean "Adventure" U.S. Pacific Chief Seeks More Troops

Admiral Thomas Fargo, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific approached the Pentagon for additional reinforcements, aircraft and ships in the event of a U.S.-led war on Iraq, reported the BBC news online Saturday.

He said the reinforcements would deter North Korea from embarking on any "adventure" when American unleashes war on Baghdad.

"The admiral wants to be sure that the North Koreans don't launch any adventure to take advantage of what they might see as preoccupation with Iraq," an official told the BBC.

Admiral Fargo, who is based in Hawaii, is said to have urged Washington to beef up his forces in response to possible plans to move the USS Kitty Hawk to the Persian Gulf in the event of an attack on Iraq.

He had asked for B-1 and B-52 bombers as well as extra troops. The U.S. already has 37,000 troops based in South Korea.

North Korea Mounts Anti-U.S. Propaganda

Tens of thousands of North Koreans braved freezing weather to attend outdoor rallies Saturday and were urged to ready themselves for "sacred battle", as Pyongyang's nuclear stand-off with the United States showed no sign of easing.

Crowds at the rallies in Pyongyang and other cities streamed into anti-U.S. art exhibitions and educational sessions.

North Korea's Chungang TV monitored in Seoul showed hundreds of women standing motionless at one such exhibition, listening to a party official briefing them on U.S. moves to attack the country.

The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said new posters of "high ideological and artistic value" produced by its artists appeared in the streets and villages.

"The works encourage the people's army and people of the DPRK (North Korea) in the confrontation with the U.S.," KCNA said on Friday, January 31.

"Most of them call for a sacred struggle to smash the U.S. imperialists' moves to isolate and stifle the DPRK and defend the dignity of the DPRK and the nation's right to existence," it said.

In a separate report, the news agency said revolutionary and militant poems and songs have also been written to "rouse working people to a sacred battle to annihilate the enemies.

"Poems 'Announcement to Humankind', 'Burning Sea of Resistance', 'Billow Angry Waves', 'I shout' and so on stress that the Korean people will surely emerge victorious," it said.