(Adds unification minister, paragraphs 6-7)

By Jon Herskovitz

SEOUL, Feb 9 (Reuters) - South Korea's president said on Monday he has no intention of backing down to North Korea, which may be preparing to test-fire its longest-range missile and in recent weeks has threatened to reduce its neighbour to ashes.

A U.S. general said the international community had demanded the North not test its ballistic missiles and said the state should focus on talks aimed at ending its nuclear arms programme.

Analysts do not expect a major conflict between the divided Koreas but said the North's sabre-rattling was aimed at pressuring Seoul to drop its hardline policy and grabbing the attention of new U.S. President Barack Obama. [ID:nSEO26316]

"Our government is always ready to sit and talk with North Korea on any issue. But we're not going to rush, because I believe what's important in inter-Korean relations is having unwavering and firm principles," South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said in prepared remarks for a radio address.

Lee, who took office a year ago, has angered his destitute neighbour by ending what once had been a free flow of unconditional aid and instead tying the South's handout to progress the North makes towards ending its military threat.

Hyun In-taek, who helped draft the South's policy towards the North and is Lee's pick for new unification minister, told a parliamentary confirmation hearing he planned to stick to the current plan of linking the South's aid to the North's behaviour.

Pyongyang has slammed Hyun's nomination, calling him "a confrontational fanatic and sycophantic traitor".

North Korea is making moves to test its Taepodong-2 missile, which has never flown successfully but is designed to eventually hit U.S. territory. It may also fire short-range missiles towards a disputed sea border with the South to raise tension, news reports said last week citing intelligence sources.

MISSILES RAPIDLY DESTROYED

The commander of U.S. Forces Korea said on Monday the 28,000 U.S. troops in South Korea and the 670,000-strong South Korean military were well prepared to meet any missile threat.

"We work very hard to be able to very rapidly take both the long-range, the short-range, all of the missile systems and the artillery and be able to destroy them if we ever had to go to war," General Walter Sharp told foreign reporters.

"We call on North Korea rather than focusing on ballistic missile technology to instead put their efforts to focusing on denuclearisation in a verifiable manner."

The North's official media said it was bolstering its deterrence in the face of what it saw as a U.S. military threat, adding: "Our people want peace, but are not afraid of war."

In what could be seen as a justification for a missile test, North Korea's communist party newspaper said at the weekend "our country, as a member of international society, has a right to enter space and compete for space science technology".

The impoverished North has claimed the Taepodong-2, which fizzled and destructed seconds after it was last test-launched in 2006, is the cornerstone of its space programme. Experts said the missile was only for military purposes.

Proliferation experts said the North, which tested a nuclear device in October 2006, does not have the technology to miniaturise a nuclear weapon to mount as a warhead.

Sputtering talks to end North Korea's nuclear arms programme have been stalled for months with Pyongyang complaining aid given in return for crippling its nuclear plant is not being delivered as promised in a deal it reached with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States.

The five regional powers are demanding the secretive North accept a system to check claims it made about its nuclear programme, with the United States saying it wants to halt promised energy aid until Pyongyang agrees to verification steps. (Additional reporting by Seo Eun-kyung and Kim Junghyun; Editing by Nick Macfie and Paul Tait)

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