SEOUL -- North Korea warned Sunday that it would take "an emergency measure" if the United States opted to resolve the nuclear crisis by force.

The warning came from ***Rodong Sinmun***, the North's Ruling Workers Party newspaper, as South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun left for Washington for a summit with U.S. President George W. Bush.

"If the U.S. does not drop its hostile policy toward the DPRK (North Korea) and finally opts to settle the nuclear issue by force, the DPRK will be left with no option but to take an emergency measure," ***Rodong** said.

The newspaper did not elaborate on what the measure may entail.

The daily insisted it was "quite just" for North Korea to have built up "a deterrent force" in response to a possible U.S. strike against the DPRK country.

At talks in Beijing last week, North Korea said it has nuclear weapons but offered to ditch its nuclear and missile programs in return for significant economic and diplomatic benefits, according to U.S. accounts.

***Rodong***, in a separate commentary, slammed Washington's dismissal of the proposals.

"This is neither a threat nor blackmail but a legitimate self-defensive measure of the DPRK to cope with the U.S. hostile policy toward it," it told AFP.

The United States has so far declined to respond to what the North described as its "bold" proposal.

Since the crisis erupted in October, the United States has insisted that North Korea verifiably and irreversibly end both its nuclear programs based on plutonium and enriched uranium.