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By Paul Eckert

SEOUL, Feb 3 (Reuters) - North Korea's official media said on Monday the communist state's troops were in full combat readiness in case of U.S. aggression, amid signs of rising tensions over the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula.

Radio Pyongyang quoted Korean People's Army chiefs as vowing loyalty to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who it said had toured two army units over the weekend as his country vilified the United States over the three-month-old nuclear impasse.

North Korea has repeatedly accused the United States of making preparations to attack over the nuclear crisis, including deploying an aircraft carrier in waters off the peninsula.

Washington has swiftly denied the North Korean assertions, but U.S. officials have announced steps to shore up the American military presence in South Korea with troops and equipment to deter the North in the event of a U.S. war with Iraq.

"Our army and people are in full combat readiness to cope with indiscriminate military and political moves stemming from the U.S. imperialist warhawks' strategy to dominate the Korean peninsula," said the Radio Pyongyang broadcast.

"We will wholeheartedly follow the wise leadership of the general (Kim Jong-il)," it said.

The latest escalation of rhetoric from North Korea has not been accompanied by any unusual troop movements in the North, South Korea's Defence Ministry said.

The Korean crisis was sparked last October when the United States said Pyongyang had admitted to pursuing a programme to enrich uranium in violation of a 1994 accord, under which the North froze its nuclear programme in exchange for two nuclear energy reactors and economic assistance.

U.S. ARMY "STOP MOVEMENT"

Pyongyang expelled U.N. nuclear inspectors and removed seals from a mothballed military research reactor in December, threatening to reactivate a plant feared capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium. In January, the North pulled out of the treaty preventing the spread of nuclear arms.

North Korea insists the only was to resolve the stand-off is for Washington to agree to direct talks with Pyongyang and to sign a non-aggression pact with the isolated, impoverished state.

Last week, U.S. officials said that American spy satellites showed North Korea was moving fuel rods around the reactor complex, including possibly some of the 8,000 spent fuel rods that experts consider a key step in building bombs.

But there was no sign that crucial reprocessing of those spent rods had begun, U.S. officials added.

Last week, the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific asked the Pentagon for more troops, aircraft and warships to deter any North Korean "adventure" should the United States go to war with Iraq.

The reinforcements sought include several thousand troops to bolster the 37,000 already based in South Korea, along with B-1 and B-52 bombers and possibly an aircraft carrier.

The Seoul-based U.S. 8th Army announced on Monday that the transfer of about 2,900 officers and soldiers slated to leave South Korea in the next three months would be postponed to maintain full mission readiness in the country.

The "Stop Movement" order was not directly linked to the nuclear crisis, an 8th Army spokesman said.

He said the rotation freeze was ordered to maintain troop levels in South Korea while replacements from U.S.-based units were also being held back amid simultaneous deployments near Iraq and in Afghanistan.

An envoy of South Korean President-elect Roh Moo-hyun travelled to Washington on Sunday to consult on policies toward North Korea.

The envoy, member of parliament Chyung Dai-chul, was set to meet U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and other high-ranking U.S. officials during his four-day visit.

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