Bush is a shameless charlatan, says Pyongyang

North Korea called George Bush a "shameless charlatan" and his State of the Union address an "undisguised declaration of aggression" yesterday.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the North would never allow the US to "wantonly encroach upon its sovereignty and dignity". Mr Bush had described North Korea's government as an "oppressive regime" that "rules a people living in fear and starvation".

Relations with Washington have deteriorated since October when American officials said North Korea had admitted having a nuclear programme in violation of a 1994 agreement. America and its allies have suspended oil shipments to North Korea, which then expelled UN nuclear inspectors and pulled out of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

* Kim Dae Jung, President of South Korea, faced questions over reports that a Hyundai subsidiary sent $200m to North Korea a week before a summit in 2000 that helped Mr Kim win the Nobel peace prize.