SEOUL: North Korea called United States vice president Dick Cheney a "blood thirsty beast" yesterday, in response to Cheney saying the North's leader Kim Jong-il was irresponsible and runs a police state.
"Cheney is hated as the most cruel monster and blood-thirsty beast, as he has drenched various parts of the world in blood," a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by Pyongyang's official KCNA news agency.
Washington and North Korea have been in the midst of a war of words in recent weeks, with US President Bush calling Kim Jong-il a tyrant. Pyongyang has shot back calling Bush half-baked and a philistine.
Cheney said in a TV interview with CNN aired on Monday that Kim was "one of the world's more irresponsible leaders".
"He runs a police state. He's got one of the most heavily militarised societies in the world," Cheney said. "He doesn't take care of his people at all. And he obviously wants to throw his weight around and become a nuclear power."
The North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said Cheney's comments showed that the United States wants to scuttle six-party talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programmes in exchange for security guarantees and economic assistance.
Washington has been working to revive the talks that have been stalled for about a year.
In February, North Korea said it possessed nuclear weapons. Concerns that Pyongyang may soon conduct a nuclear test have added impetus to resume the talks that include North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
"What Cheney uttered at a time when the issue of the six-party talks is high on the agenda is little short of telling the DPRK (North Korea) not to come out for the talks," the spokesman said.
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