N Korea snubs US official

By Charles Scanlon BBC correspondent in Seoul

Mr Bolton is outspoken hawk regarding North Korea

North Korea has said it will have no dealings with a senior US state department official who launched a stinging attack on the Communist regime during a visit to the region last week.

A North Korean spokesman said it would still hold talks on its nuclear weapons programme, but not with John Bolton.

The North last week dropped a long-standing demand to exclude its neighbours from negotiations.

Last week Mr Bolton described life in North Korea as "a hellish nightmare".

'Human scum'

During a visit to the South Korean capital, Seoul, he said the country's leader, Kim Jong-il, was a tyrannical dictator who lived like royalty.

There are divisions in the US over how to deal with North Korea

The North has now responded, saying it could not tolerate insults to its leader.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman told the state news agency that the North would no longer consider Mr Bolton an official of the US administration.

He said there was no place at negotiations for "human scum" and "bloodthirsty vampires".

But the spokesman said North Korea would still accept six-way talks on its nuclear programme, bringing together its neighbours and the US.

US divisions

Mr Bolton is the US state department official responsible for arms control and is an outspoken hawk on North Korea.

American negotiating teams in the past have been led by a less confrontational official, the assistant secretary of state, James Kelly.

But there are deep divisions within the administration over how to handle the North Korean threat.

North Korea's acceptance of talks after nine months of confrontation was seen as a breakthrough, but at the time it set no conditions for the negotiations.

Beyond the war of words, the regime appears alarmed by Mr Bolton's insistence that its nuclear weapons programme be dealt with by the United Nations Security Council.

The official central news agency described that insistence as an attempt to lay siege to the country and a possible prelude to war.