North Korea bristles at Bush comments on brutality

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea charged U.S. George W. Bush with tarnishing its dignity and hurting talks aimed at ending it nuclear arms programme by describing the communist state as a brutal regime, its official media said on Friday.

The comments come as U.S. and North Korean experts met in Pyongyang to implement a deal reached this month where the North would disable its plants that make nuclear weapons material in exchange for aid and a possible end to its status as an international pariah.

"The DPRK cannot overlook the brazen-faced remarks made by the U.S. chief executive against his dialogue partner on the international arena," its KCNA news agency said.

DPRK is short for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

According to a text posted on the White House Web site, Bush told the U.N. General Assembly in September: "In Belarus, North Korea, Syria, and Iran, brutal regimes deny their people the fundamental rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration".

North Korea typically unleashes rhetorical attacks against those who criticise its human rights record, widely considered to be among the worst in the world.

"One can hardly guess the ever-changing U.S. view on the DPRK and talk about the bilateral confidence, the key to making progress at the six-party talks," the North's report said, referring to the nuclear disarmament negotiations involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.

Human rights groups say North Korea maintains a vast network of political prison camps to stamp out dissent and uses public executions to intimidate the masses.