Bush is as 'wicked' as Hitler

2005-11-22 13:59

Seoul - North Korea denounced United States president George W Bush as a "wicked man" comparable to Adolf Hitler, and labelled his advocating democracy a pretext for invading other countries.

"The US admonition for 'freedom' and 'democracy' is to invent pretexts for violating sovereignty of other countries and nations and establishing its unchallenged domination over the world," said the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Monday.

Bush, addressing South Korea-based US troops on Sunday during an Asian tour, didn't directly mention the North but alluded to the communist nation as he praised the capitalist South.

South Korea "is now a beacon of liberty that shines across the most heavily armed border in the world," Bush said. "It is a light reaching to a land shrouded in darkness.

"Together the United States and (South Korea) have shown that the future belongs to freedom, and one day all Koreans will enjoy the blessings of freedom," he said.

Warlike president

The North said Bush's "reckless remarks would entail adverse consequences in the process for denuclearising the Korean Peninsula.

KCNA called Bush a "warlike president" who "took the lead in advocating state-sponsored terrorism" and "openly defended murderous torture in prisons" - which it claimed were reminiscent of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

"History proves that the ringleaders of fascism that stood stern trials for their crimes against humanity advocated 'freedom' and 'democracy' more noisily than any others," said KCNA. "This will only more glaringly reveal his true colours as a wicked man whom the world compares to fascist fanatic Hitler."

American plot

North Korea has bristled at US criticism of its human rights record, seeing it as part of an attempt to overthrow the regime.

On Tuesday, the North also denounced a recent US government report citing the country's lack of religious freedom.

The report "is part of a US plot to isolate and stifle anti-US countries one by one," the North's official Rodong Sinmun daily said in a commentary carried by KCNA.

"The process of denuclearising the Korean Peninsula can progress only in an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust," the newspaper said.

The United States and four other countries have sought since 2003 to persuade the North to disarm, with China hosting talks on the matter.

- AP