South Korean activists hold a poster of Rumsfeld during a rally against a possible U.S. attack on North Korea in Seoul

SEOUL, February 9 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - North Korea on Sunday, February 9, warned it would use the “toughest” measures to protect its interests ahead of a key International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting on the country's nuclear drive this week.

“It is quite natural for the DPRK (North Korea) to take the toughest measure to protect its supreme interests under this severe situation,” said the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the mouthpiece of North Korea’s ruling Workers Party, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

It accused Washington of using the IAEA, whose board of governors is meeting on Wednesday, February 12, to discuss North Korea’s reactivation of its nuclear facilities, to put “international pressure” on Pyongyang.

North Korea has repeatedly rejected any international involvement in the stand-off, calling for direct dialogue with the United States.

“The U.S. is taking measures to massively bolster its forces in and around South Korea in an undisguised bid to mount a pre-emptive attack on the DPRK.”

The IAEA board is certain to send it to the U.N. Security Council, which could impose sanctions against Pyongyang - a move North Korea has warned it will view as a declaration of war.

Pyongyang has already warned the Korean peninsula would be reduced to a “land of ashes” in a nuclear war with the United States unless Washington calls off plans to boost forces in the region.

The war of words between the Cold War foes intensified last week after Pyongyang said it had restarted a nuclear plant frozen for the past eight years under an arms control accord with Washington.

On Friday U.S. President George W. Bush did not rule out military action, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told the Munich Conference on Security on Saturday that North Korea could produce fissile material for six to eight nuclear bombs by May.

“It’s pretty clear if they start that reprocessing plant, which they seem to indicate they are going to do, that they may have nuclear material sufficient to make an additional six to eight nuclear weapons,” Rumsfeld said.

He discussed with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov how to bring pressure on North Korea and the role that the U.N. Security Council and the IAEA could play.

In Tokyo, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported Sunday that Japan would consider imposing sanctions against North Korea if the Stalinist state test-fires any ballistic missiles.

Pre-Emptive Strikes

If a North Korean missile fell on Japanese territory or waters, Tokyo would convene an emergency meeting and consult the United States on counter-measures, it said.

The report did not specify what action could be taken, but Japanese officials said last month that Tokyo could ask U.S. forces to launch a pre-emptive strike on North Korean missile bases if Pyongyang was preparing to fire missiles at its territory.

In 1998, Pyongyang sent shockwaves around the world by test-firing a suspected ballistic missile which flew over Japan.

Meanwhile about 3,000 South Korean Christians denounced the North's weapons drive at a rally in Seoul on Sunday.

And an Indonesian special envoy sent to curb the growing crisis was feted with a special reception in Pyongyang, official media reported.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri’s envoy Nana Sutresna, who held talks with North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun on Saturday, hopes to meet the state's leader Kim Jong-il before he returns to Jakarta on Tuesday.