North Korea reportedly fueling rocket

Meanwhile, CNN television said on its website that Pyongyang has started to fuel the rocket. The report cited an unidentified senior U.S. military official.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said the U.S. and Japanese governments have not confirmed that fueling has begun. South Korea’s Defense Ministry declined to comment.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged the North to reconsider the launch, saying: "There will obviously be consequences if they do proceed with this."

The North countered with its own warnings against any efforts to intercept the rocket, take the issue to the Security Council or even monitor the launch. It says its armed forces are at a high level of readiness.

The North has said debris from the rocket could fall off Japan’s northern coast, so Tokyo has deployed battleships with anti-missile systems to the area and set up Patriot missile interceptors. It says it has no intention of trying to shoot down the rocket itself.

"If Japan imprudently carries out an act of intercepting our peaceful satellite, our people’s army will hand a thunderbolt of fire to not only interceptor means already deployed, but also key targets," said a report today by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency that quoted the general staff of its military.

In what appeared to be a reference to American warships that have reportedly set sail to monitor the launch, the Korean-language version of the KCNA report said: "The United States should immediately withdraw armed forces deployed if it does not want to receive damage."

An English version said the U.S. forces could be hit in a retaliatory strike against Japan.

In Washington, U.S. lawmakers are urging Obama to shoot down the rocket if it endangers the United States or its allies.But U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in a TV interview aired Sunday that the U.S. had no plans to intercept the rocket but might consider it if an "aberrant missile" were headed to Hawaii "or something like that."