SEOUL -- North Korea on Sunday accused the United States of pushing relations to "the brink of war" but made no mention of a gunbattle with the rival South which sent tensions soaring on the Korean peninsula.

The North's official newspaper, ***Rodong Sinmun***, said the communist state had measures ready to counter any "pre-emptive" U.S. attack from its bases in South Korea.

"The obtaining situation compels the DPRK (North Korea) to take a strong countermeasure," Rodong Sinmun said.

The mouthpiece of the ruling workers' party denounced the United States for threatening and containing North Korea with a strategy of launching a "preemptive strike", AFP reported.

"This is a declaration of a showdown of strength on the Korean peninsula and an extremely dangerous attempt to drive the DPRK-U.S. relations to the brink of war," it said.

But the newspaper made no mention of the fierce gunbattle Saturday between South and North Korean navies in the yellow sea that left four South Korean soldiers killed, one missing and 19 injured.

The skirmish was the most serious in three years and prompted a high alert by South Korean armed forces and some 37,000 U.S. troops guarding the tense inter-Korean frontier.

The United States fought with the South in the 1950-53 Korean war which has never been officially ended with a peace treaty.