N. Korea Assails Cheney, Then Is Friendly to Bush

North Korea called Vice President Dick Cheney a “bloodthirsty beast” Thursday and said his recent remarks labeling ruler Kim Jong Il irresponsible were a reason for it to stay away from six-nation nuclear disarmament talks.

But today, the Pyongyang government made a rare positive remark about President Bush, noting he recently used the title “Mr.” for Kim and saying it hoped the softened tone could lead to its return to the talks.

In a Sunday interview on CNN, Cheney called Kim “one of the world’s most irresponsible leaders,” who runs a police state and leaves his people in poverty.

“What Cheney uttered at a time when the issue of the six-party talks is high on the agenda is little short of telling [North Korea] not to come out for the talks,” an unnamed Foreign Ministry spokesman said, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Thursday.

North Korea said the remarks by Cheney, “boss of the hawkish hard-liners, revealed the true colors of this group steering the implementation of the policy of the Bush administration.”

Pyongyang also said the vice president was “hated as the most cruel monster and bloodthirsty beast as he has drenched various parts of the world in blood.”

A day later, the agency quoted an unnamed Foreign Ministry spokesman’s more friendly comments about Bush, who said Tuesday that the U.S. was trying to “send a message to Mr. Kim Jong Il that if you want to be” among “those who are viewed with respect in the world, work with us to get rid of your nuclear weapons program.”

“If Bush’s remarks put an end to the scramble between the hawkish group and the moderate group in the U.S., which has thrown the Korean policy into a state of confusion, it would help create an atmosphere of the six-party talks,” KCNA said today.

North Korea has cited hostile U.S. policy for its refusal to resume the nuclear discussions.