N Korea Rejects US official

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.

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

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

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".

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

Much as I hate both the neo-cons and the North Korean government, I now and then think how much they deserve each other.

Two teams of swaggering non-diplomats with nuclear weapons, if only I lived in Europe I would love to watch.