North Korea has issued a blunt warning to Japan, just hours before the United Nations Security Council prepared for its first meeting on the North's controversial nuclear programme.
The official KCNA news agency said Japan should be "clearly mindful that it is also within the striking range" of North Korea's weapons.
The statement appeared to have been prompted by Japan's launching of two spy satellites in March.
Although the North regularly issues threatening rhetoric, it did fire a ballistic missile over Japan in 1998, and its latest warning will add to tensions in the region over its nuclear ambitions.
Ahead of the UN meeting, diplomats said China would block any attempt by the Security Council to criticise North Korea's decision to resume its nuclear programme.
The United States has been pressing the Council to issue a statement condemning the government for withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and urging it to comply with its international obligations.
But China believes the crisis can best be solved outside the Security Council, and backs North Korea's demand that it should have direct talks with Washington.
The UN envoy to North Korea, Maurice Strong, said last week that Wednesday's meeting was likely to be "contentious".
Russia has also warned of the potentially destabilising effect of a Security Council discussion.
Alexander Losyukov, in charge of Asian affairs at the Russian foreign ministry, said relations between the US and North Korea needed to be fixed, before involving the UN.
"Otherwise, the UN Security Council discussion could, instead, become a launching pad for a further unravelling of relations," he said.
Quiet diplomacy
Behind the scenes, North Korea's neighbours are working for a solution to the impasse.
Russia has proposed talks involving the US, North Korea, Russia, China, South Korea and Japan.
The crisis was sparked by North Korea's alleged admission to the US of a secret nuclear weapons programme in violation of a 1994 pact.
It subsequently expelled UN inspectors and pulled out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
It will be officially free from the treaty on Thursday, one day after the Security Council meeting.
The crisis over the North's nuclear ambitions was referred to the Security Council by the UN's atomic agency in February, after it was deemed to be in "chronic non-compliance" with international agreements on non-proliferation.
The Security Council could consider a variety of options, ranging from a call for an intensification of diplomatic initiatives, to a tightening of economic sanctions.
Although Wednesday's meeting is unlikely to result in any specific results diplomats say the very act of holding the discussion may ratchet up tensions in North Korea, which has already condemned the meeting as a "prelude to war".
On Sunday, North Korean radio said that involving the UN was an "excessive act... that destroys all efforts for dialogue, and a grave act of provocation that... is, in and of itself, no different from being a prelude to war".
