The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Saturday said that it does not expect any solution to the nuclear issue or any progress in the DPRK-US relations during the tenure of incumbent US president George W. Bush. 

"Because, Bush is, indeed, a world dictator whose hands are stained with the blood shed by innocent civilians," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted a spokesman of the DPRK's Foreign Ministry as saying. "Peace can never settle in the world as long as Bush stays in power."

The spokesman said that over more than four years since Bush's inauguration, the DPRK has shown "utmost magnanimity and patience." He stressed that it can no longer do so, "waiting for any shift in the US policy."

The DPRK's anger came after Bush made accusation against the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong-il at a press conference on Friday, when Bush branded Kim as a "tyrant and a dangerous man."

When asked about whether the DPRK can mount a nuclear device on a missile, Bush said it was best to expect the worst from the DPRK leader.

"There is concern about his capability to deliver a nuclear weapon. We don't know if he can or not but I think it's best, when you're dealing with a tyrant like Kim Jong-il, to assume he can," Bush said at the press conference.

In return, the DPRK spokesman termed Bush as "a hooligan bereft of any personality as a human being, to say nothing of stature as president of a country."

"He is a half-baked man in terms of morality and a philistine whom we can never deal with," he added.

Tension between the US and the DPRK has grown since earlier this week after a senior official of the US Defense Intelligence Agency said the DPRK may have mastered the technology for mounting a nuclear warhead on a missile capable of hitting the West Coast of the United States.

(Xinhua News Agency May 1, 2005)