World IN BRIEF : NORTH KOREA : Gramm Denounced as ‘War Maniac’

North Korea lashed out at presidential candidate Sen. Phil Gramm, calling the Texas Republican a “war maniac” for saying he would support attacking the North if it could not be dissuaded from developing a nuclear program. Gramm said this month that he would prefer the use of economic sanctions or political pressure but that the safety of U.S. troops in South Korea would require that the United States try to stop Communist aggression. “If we had to stop them with preemptive use of military force, I would support that,” he told a campaign audience Dec. 16. Pyongyang’s official Rodong Shinmun newspaper accused Gramm of trying to disrupt a deal with Washington that seeks to remove fears of nuclear weapons production by North Korea.