The war of words began when Vice President Dick Cheney told CNN television in an interview aired Monday that North Korea's Kim Jong-Il was an "irresponsible" leader who did not care for his people and ran a police state.

In response, North Korea launched an anti-Cheney tirade.

"Cheney is hated as the most cruel monster and blood-thirsty beast, as he has drenched various parts of the world in blood," a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said.

"What Cheney uttered at a time when the issue of the six-party talks is high on the agenda is little short of telling the DPRK (North Korea) not to come out for the talks," the spokesman was quoted as saying by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

North Korea has boycotted the six-nation talks -- which also involve China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States -- since the last round a year ago. The talks are aimed at coaxing Pyongyang to stop its nuclear program, which it relaunched in violation of a 1994 accord. Washington insists Pyongyang has several atomic bombs in its arsenal.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan defended Cheney's comments earlier Thursday.

"We are going to call it the way it is," McClellan told reporters, reaffirming Washington's determination to see international pressure make North Korea abandon its nuclear arms program.

McClellan said this was "more of the same kind of bluster we hear from North Korea from time to time."

"All of the parties are saying to North Korea that it needs to abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions. We all share the goal of a nuclear-free (Korean) peninsula. North Korea is the one that must make a strategic decision" if it wants to have better relations with the international community, said McClellan.

"They may make provocative statements, but they will only further isolate themselves from the international community. We've made very clear that we are committed to the six-party talks," he said.