US Undersecretary of State Bolton launched a scathing attack on North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il during a trip to Seoul last week, describing him as a "tyrannical dictator."

Bolton also said "life is a hellish nightmare" for many North Koreans.

North Korea condemned the US official for hurling "malignant abuses" at its leader and warned Bolton's remarks cast doubts as to whether Washington "truly" wants to negotiate with Pyongyang.

"Such human scum and bloodsucker is not entitled to take part in the talks in view of either the importance of the talks aimed to decide on peace and stability in northeast Asia or human dignity," a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

"We have decided not to consider him as an official of the US administration any longer nor to deal with him."

The spokesman, however, said Bolton's remarks would not sway its decision last week to start six-party talks on ending the nine-month nuclear crisis.

The six parties include the United States and its allies, Japan and South Korea, and North Korea, along with China, Pyongyang's closest ally, and Russia.

"There is no change in our stand on holding the six-party talks including the bilateral talks between the DPRK (North Korea) and the US for the peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula," the spokesman said.

In Tokyo, Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun said the United States and Japan are considering forming a nuclear inspection team for North Korea that comprises weapons experts from the two countries, as well as China, South Korea and Russia.

The team would act independently of nuclear inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) but would cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog if necessary, it said, quoting government sources.

With the presence of China and Russia in the team, the daily said North Korea would find it easier to accept nuclear inspections.

The team plans to inspect facilities in the nuclear complex at Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang, and other sites, including undeclared plutonium and uranium-enrichment plants, the Yomiuri said.

The nuclear crisis erupted in October when Washington accused the Stalinist state of reneging on a 1994 bilateral nuclear freeze accord by running a clandestine atomic program based on enriched uranium.

Following the October revelations, the 1994 deal swiftly unraveled and the United States stopped fuel deliveries. North Korea then upped the stakes, kicking out IAEA monitors and withdrawing from the Non-Proliferation treaty.

Pyongyang has since claimed it has reprocessed 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods in Yongbyon.

Washington believes North Korea had extracted enough weapons-grade plutonium for about two nuclear bombs before it froze its Yongbyon plant. Reprocessing the fuel rods could provide enough additional material for around six bombs within months, according to analysts.

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