The United States Department of State countered with a statement that North Korea must refrain from "bellicose statements."

Responding to the most bellicose statement yet from President Saddam Hussein of Iraq, Israeli officials sought to keep the low profile requested by the United States.

Foreign diplomats say, moreover, that with Indian politicians' increasingly bellicose statements, Pakistani leaders have grown worried about a full-blown war with its much bigger and better-armed neighbor.

This official said Teheran's policy appeared to mix bellicose public statements about terrorism with easily detectable moves that demonstrate a willingness to carry out the threats.

Those are far better deterrents to Israeli aggression and American dishonesty than bellicose statements and hand-wringing.

But the conciliatory tone was striking in that it came after months of generally bellicose statements from the Bosnian Serb leadership.

And they plummeted later in the day after highly bellicose statements from President Saddam Hussein of Iraq flashed across trading screens.

Today, for a third day, neither country issued bellicose statements about the other, suggesting that both are trying to ease their way back from the brink.

Mr. Sharon has made similarly bellicose statements about Mr. Arafat in the past.

In bellicose statements just after the Aries collision, China - seeking to extend its territoriality far from its shores - evoked the Law of the Sea Treaty.