SEOUL, May 24: North Korea on Saturday warned the United States of “tougher military counteraction” if Washington decides to use force to resolve a dispute over the North’s suspected development of nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, China called for more dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang.

Last month, China sat with the United States and North Korea for three days of talks in Beijing to discuss the nuclear standoff. But the talks ended with no reported progress and no indication that they would resume.

“The continuation of the Beijing talks should be the priority,” the official Xinhua News Agency quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue as saying on Friday.

On Friday, US President George W. Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi warned North Korea that any escalation of tensions would prompt “tougher measures.”

The comments followed a summit between Bush and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, during which the two leaders agreed to seek a peaceful resolution to the crisis.

North Korea’s state-run Minju Joson newspaper on Saturday accused Washington of plotting to launch another war on the Korean Peninsula.

“The situation on the Korean Peninsula is inching close to an extremely dangerous phase,” the paper said, according to North Korea’s KCNA news agency.

North Korea is “left with no option but to take a tougher military counteraction to cope with the US hawks’ invariable plan to mount a pre-emptive attack,” it said.—AP/AFP