"The violation of Iraq's sovereignty already started with demanding disarmament by inspection and gradually led to war," said a spokesman at North Korea's foreign ministry told KCNA, the communist state's official news agency. The spokesman said the war in Iraq should "compel (North Korea) to do all it can to defend itself". Separately, North Korea criticised South Korea's decision to put its military on heightened alert as "an undisguised challenge and intolerable hostility".



South Korea said on Friday its military went on heightened alert to guard against possible North Korean moves to use the distraction of war in Iraq to increase tensions on the Korean Peninsula. But it said the precautionary move did not involve significant troop movements. North Korea's Committee for Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said: "We cannot but express deep concern about the irrevocable adverse impact such reckless sabre-rattling going on in South Korea will have on peace on the Korean Peninsula and inter-Korean relations."

But South Korea's unification ministry said the war in Iraq should not have a negative impact on inter-Korean relations. "It is regrettable North Korea doubts our determination on reconciliation and co-operation on the Korean Peninsula." South Korean Defence Minister Cho Young-kil said North Korea was conducting air raid drills across the country to heighten vigilance. But he said he saw "little chance of high-intensity military provocations" from the communist state. Tensions have run high in the region since October, when the US said North Korea admitted having a secret nuclear program.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun sought to ease foreign investors' concerns over the tensions. "There will not be a war, or any chaotic situation that resembles war" on the peninsula, he said. KCNA said the US was conducting war exercises to test its capabilities of fighting two wars simultaneously. The US, which has said it has no plans to invade North Korea, says its regular military exercises with South Korea are purely defensive. - AP