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SEOUL (Reuters) - A defiant North Korea accused the United States Friday of seeking to overthrow its political system, adding that Washington was rushing into an extremely dangerous confrontation.

The reclusive communist state's latest salvo, carried by its official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), said a U.S. demand that it scrap its nuclear program as a condition for talks was a prelude to a surprise attack.

Its comments followed a demand from South Korea's president-elect, a dove on relations with the North, that it drop plans to reactivate a reactor capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons.

"(The United States) is rushing headlong into extremely dangerous confrontation with the DPRK (North Korea), saying that it would neither have dialogue with the DPRK nor rule out a war against it," KCNA said.

"The U.S. much publicized assertion that North Korea should scrap its nuclear program first is nothing but a pipe-dream as it calls for disarming the DPRK under the absurd pretext of its 'nuclear program' and then launching a surprise attack on it to overthrow its political system," it added.

President Bush has denounced North Korea as a member of an "axis of evil" with Iran and Iraq, which also accuses Washington of seeking to topple its president, Saddam Hussein.

Rumsfeld said Monday the United States, which is focusing on ridding Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, could fight two wars at once and win and that North Korea would be mistaken to assume Washington would be distracted by the Iraq standoff.

As Washington pushed for more international pressure on the North, Australia put plans to build an embassy in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, on hold.

South Korea's Roh Moo-hyun, who takes office on February 25, delivered the strongest message to date from Seoul on the crisis over Pyongyang's nuclear intentions.

"North Korea must withdraw the nuclear measures it has taken and restore facilities and equipment to their original state," said Roh, who won South Korea's December 19 presidential election on a platform of dialogue with the North.

Roh spoke out after North Korea told the United Nations it planned to restart the reactor within two months.

In Washington, a Bush administration official accused China and Russia of dragging their feet over the crisis.

CHINESE IRRITATION

China has not commented on the U.S. accusation but there were signs Friday of Beijing's irritation with U.S. rhetoric. The official English-language China Daily criticized Rumsfeld's remarks as "hawkish and dangerous."

Roh told the North its defiance of world opinion hindered efforts to help revive its economy and end diplomatic isolation.

"North Korea's moves defy the international community's wishes for an end to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and run counter to the hopes of our nation for peace on the Korean peninsula," he said in a statement.

The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, said Thursday the plan to restart the small, five-megawatt reactor raised serious non-proliferation concerns and was tantamount to nuclear brinkmanship.

The reactor and three related facilities at Yongbyon, 55 miles north of Pyongyang, were mothballed under a 1994 non-proliferation pact with the United States, which offered oil in return for compliance.

The United States said in October the North had admitted operating a secret weapons program using highly enriched uranium. The United States, South Korea and others suspended fuel oil shipments to the impoverished North in December.

North Korea, which says it is reactivating the plant to produce electricity to make up for lost fuel oil supplies, wants Washington to sign a non-aggression pact and hold direct talks on their differences.

U.S. officials describe the standoff as a ploy by the North to force Washington into talks on normalizing relations.

Washington has expressed confidence that diplomacy can defuse the crisis and has been pressing Russia and China, which is the North's chief ally, to use their influence.

But a Bush administration official expressed frustration on Thursday with their response so far.

The official, who spoke on condition he not be named, said that normally, Russia and China signaled when they were working together with U.S. policymakers on a foreign-policy headache.

"The fact that we're not hearing very much is pretty telling evidence," he said. "If there's anybody who can get North Korea to stop this, it would be Russia and China."

In Beijing, the China Daily denounced a Rumsfeld remark that the United States, which is focusing on ridding Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, could fight two wars at once and win.

"This is a hawkish and dangerous warning," the newspaper said of Rumsfeld's comments Monday. "It will poison the warming relations between the two sides on the Korean peninsula."

U.S. officials say Washington, which suspects North Korea has two nuclear bombs, is looking toward a January 6 meeting of the IAEA board of governors, who are expected to move the North's breach of its obligations to the U.N. Security Council.

South Korea's Roh said the crisis could undermine his strategy of promoting aid and dialogue with the North.

"If the worries of South Koreans over North Korea's moves escalate, this government and the new government will be hamstrung and North-South exchanges will suffer a negative impact," he added.