WASHINGTON - The United States and Japan warned North Korea Monday against a missile launch as some officials said Pyongyang appeared to have finished fueling for a test flight that could reach as far as Alaska.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said a missile launch by North Korea would be viewed as a very serious matter and "provocative act" that would further isolate Pyongyang.
"We will obviously consult on next steps but I can assure everyone that it would be taken with utmost seriousness," said Rice at a news conference in Washington.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who has twice met North Korean leader Kim Jong-il since taking office in 2001, said Tokyo, Washington and Seoul were all urging Pyongyang to act rationally and with restraint.
"Even now, we hope that they will not do this," Koizumi told a news conference. "But if they ignore our views and launch a missile, then the Japanese government, consulting with the United States, would have to respond harshly."
Koizumi declined to specify what steps Japan would take.
The United States is consulting fellow members of the U.N. Security Council on what action to take if North Korea tests the missile, said Washington's ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton.
The United States has found itself blocked by veto-wielding council members China and Russia in past attempts to raise North Korea's nuclear weapons program in the Security Council.
South Korean broadcaster YTN cited officials in Seoul as saying a launch of the North's Taepodong-2 missile was imminent.
However, speculation that the missile would be fired at the weekend came to nothing, and forecasts of cloud and rain over North Korea until Wednesday could delay it even further.
Tension over North Korea added to downward pressure on the Japanese yen, Korean won and Taiwan dollar Monday, although currency markets were more focused on rising U.S. interest rates.
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