The statement by North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) came as South Korea's Foreign Minister Yoon Young-Kwan warned against expectations of a settlement at next week's talks in Beijing.

KCNA said Washington was insisting on forming a new team of inspectors from China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States, all parties to the six-way talks August 27-29.

"The US demand for an early inspection of the DPRK (North Korea) nuclear facilities is absolutely unacceptable as it is a blatant interference in its internal affairs and an infringement upon its sovereignty," KCNA said.

"This is little short of demanding the DPRK surrender to it. Surrender means death," KCNA added.

The North's official mouthpiece reiterated its demand for a softening in US policy towards the communist regime to ensure a solution to solve the nuclear crisis.

Pyongyang has repeatedly demanded that Washington prove a policy change by agreeing to a non-aggression pact and diplomatic normalization, and promise not to hinder North Korea's international trade.

The United States rejects the non-aggression pact although Secretary of State Colin Powell has suggested there may be a way for the US Congress to take note of a less formal arrangement.

The North's toughened stance came just a week before the talks aimed at resolving the 10-month nuclear stand-off over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons drive.

The nuclear crisis erupted when the United States accused Pyongyang of reneging on a 1994 bilateral nuclear accord by setting up a clandestine program based on enriched uranium.

North Korea, which says it needs its own nuclear deterrent against the United States, expelled UN nuclear inspectors and withdrew from an international nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

It has since claimed to have reprocessed 8,000 spent fuel rods for weapons-grade plutonium at its nuclear plant at Yongbyon.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yoon Young-Kwan warned Wednesday against expectations of a settlement at next week's talks.

Yoon said finding a solution to the stand-off would be difficult at a single meeting, stressing further rounds of negotiations would likely be necessary before the crisis could be resolved.

"It would be hard to resolve the problem through a few rounds of talks, given the nature of nuclear issues," Yoon said in a meeting with journalists.

"It is a correct view to say that a long process for settlement is now beginning, rather than being too optimistic or pessimistic about the outcomes of the first round of talks."

Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Lee Soo-Hyuk, will lead the South Korean delegation to the six-nation talks, Yoon said.

Lee is also the lead South Korean delegate for a meet in Beijing next week of Japanese, South Korean, US and Chinese officials one day before the six-nation talks, Japanese officials said in a report carried by the Kyodo news agency Wednesday.

Delegates to Tuesday's meeting are expected to confirm that North Korea must abandon its nuclear arms program to receive a written security guarantee and economic, energy and food assistance, Kyodo reported, and confirm demands that Pyongyang accept inspections to verify it is dismantling its nuclear system.

Yoon stressed that Pyongyang should not aggravate the situation by taking further nuclear-development steps as long as negotiations keep going.

South Korea and North Korea have still remained technically at war since their 1950-53 conflict which ended in an armistice, rather than a peace treaty.

Some 37,000 US troops are stationed in South Korea to thwart North Korea's military threat.

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