Rumsfeld brands N Korea 'evil'

Mr Rumsfeld (centre) was visiting US troops on the Korean border

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has described North Korea as an "evil regime", a comment which is likely to worsen already tense relations.

Mr Rumsfeld, visiting US troops on the Korean border, said Pyongyang spent money on weapons while people starved.

Washington and its allies in the region are currently attempting to call a new round of diplomatic talks with North Korea over its nuclear programme.

The US has said it hopes such talks could be held in mid-December.

Mr Rumsfeld said that 50 years after the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, the divide between the communist North and capitalist South was now "so great the people in the North, repressed people to be sure, watch their children waste away, eat (tree) bark, as that evil regime spends huge sums on weapons.

"When you live and work as you do on the border between freedom and slavery, between democracy and communism, between prosperity and poverty... I am sure you have a clear sense of your mission," Mr Rumsfeld told troops at Osan Air Base, home to the 51st Fighter Wing.

MAIN US BASES IN SOUTH KOREA

His comments are likely to prompt a reaction from Pyongyang, which is still smarting from being included in President George W Bush's "axis of evil" in 2002.

The last time Mr Rumsfeld publicly criticised North Korea, in September, the country's official news agency called him a "dictatorial psychopath".

Pyongyang called Mr Rumsfeld's colleague, top arms official John Bolton, "human scum" and said it would no longer deal with him after he criticised the North reclusive leader Kim Jong-il.

Mr Rumsfeld was at Osan Air Base as part of a tour of US military bases in South Korea.

He earlier flew via helicopter to Camp Casey, the biggest of 17 US military camps north of Seoul, where the US 2nd Infantry Division is based.

Mr Rumsfeld, a former navy pilot, was impressed by the simulated battles he watched on a tactical training system at Camp Casey. "The technology is amazing," he said.

"Our motto is 'fight tonight'. We take that seriously," said Major Tamara Parker, spokeswoman for the 2nd US Infantry Division.

Troop movements

On Monday Mr Rumsfeld reaffirmed plans to pull back US forces from front line positions in the country.

Their forward position puts them in range of North Korean artillery and US officials have said that pulling troops back would strengthen the military's hand.

But Mr Rumsfeld and his South Korean counterpart, Cho Young-kil, have not decided on a date for that withdrawal. Mr Rumsfeld has stressed throughout his trip that there are no plans for a withdrawal of some of the troops from the country altogether.

The 50-year US-South Korean alliance has "been successful because we've had the ability to deter and defend and, if necessary, prevail and that has been well understood", Mr Rumsfeld told a news conference at the Seoul Defence Ministry.

On Monday, Mr Rumsfeld and Mr Cho renewed their call for North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons programme.

US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, who is visiting Tokyo, discussed the nuclear issue with Japanese Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Tuesday.

Both agreed to continue using "dialogue and pressure" to resolve the nuclear crisis, Mr Ishiba told reporters afterwards.

Mr Kelly said he would discuss the timing of six-party talks on the crisis further when he arrives in Beijing later in the day, before flying to Seoul on Wednesday.