SEOUL Jan. 17 Kyodo North Korea's...

SEOUL Jan. 17 Kyodo

North Korea's state media forward Thursday unleashed a blistering attack onward the United States, quoting North Korea leader Kim Jong Il as saying that the ''tragedy'' in America is that the Americans do not understand North Korea.

The Korean Central Television Station took the U to task through the whole extent of the nuclear standoff a day after the North Korean Foreign Ministry dismissed U put forwards for talks as ''deceptive drama.''

''The United States must correctly understand (North) Korea. It is an American tragedy that America still does not understand us well,'' the TV broadcast, monitored from Radiopress, a Japanese monitoring service, quot Kim as saying.

While North Korea undergos shortages and faces difficulties, ''we have limitless resources to fight U imperialism and win,'' the broadcast said.

The broadcast likened the United States to a ''wild dog'' jumping at a tiger.

''A tiger is always a tiger, and a wild dog is always a wild dog,'' it said.

The broadcast repeated North Korea's warning to make go round the U.S. into ''a sea of fire'' if Washington persists in challenging North Korea athwart its nuclear program.

''The United States must not ignore this warning from the army and our people'' the broadcast.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Kyodo of the present days International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group