PAULINE JELINEK WASHINGTON North Korea is fuelling a rocket in final preparations for its threatened launch of a satellite, US defence officials said yesterday.

A senior intelligence official said that Pyongyang was on track for tomorrow's launch.

Senior defence officials in Washington said that propellant vehicles and trailers, signs of imminent fueling, were in place at North Korea's coastal launch site.

At the G20 summit in London, President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak issued a statement agreeing on "a stern, united response from the international community if North Korea launches a long-range rocket".

State Department spokesman Robert Wood would not address the US intelligence reports, but repeated earlier warnings: "The North should refrain from engaging in a provocative act, like a missile launch, that would further inflame tensions in the region," he said.

North Korea heightened its militaristic rhetoric toward the US, Japan and South Korea yesterday, threatening retaliation for any attempt to shoot down the rocket. Quoting an unidentified North Korean general, the North Korean Central News Agency said Japan would be struck with a "thunderbolt of fire" if it attempts to intercept the multistage rocket.

The news service also issued a veiled threat against American warships moving in position to monitor the launch, saying: "The United States should immediately withdraw armed forces deployed if it does not want to receive damage."

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said during a TV interview that the US had no plans to intercept the rocket - though it might consider the move if an "aberrant missile" were headed to Hawaii "or something like that".-AP