Israel 'occupying curse on Middle East', says North Korea

A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said on Saturday that Avigdor Lieberman had "hurt the dignity of leader Kim Jong-Un" with his careless comment, North Korean state media reported.

"The reckless remarks of the Israeli defence minister are sordid and wicked behaviour and grave challenge," a North Korean spokesman said.

"Israel is the only illegal possessor of nukes in the Middle East under the patronage of the US. However, Israel vociferated about the nuclear deterrence of North Korea, slandering it, whenever an opportunity presented itself," he added.

"This is the cynical ploy to escape the world denunciation and curse as disturber of peace in the Middle East, occupier of the Arab territories and culprit of crimes against humanity."

He added that Pyongyang fully supports the struggle of the Palestinian people to regain occupied territories and establish an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Lieberman said in an interview this week in the Israeli media that Kim Jong-un was a madman, who was part of an "insane" gang along Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Israeli politicians have condemned Liberman for his statement that has embroiled Israel into the unlikely dispute with North Korea.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been running sky-high for weeks, with signs that North Korea might be preparing a sixth nuclear test - and with Washington refusing to rule out a military strike in response.

North Korea test-fired a missile on Saturday, the latest in a drumbeat that has aroused Washington's fears that the regime may be close to developing an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead.

Israel is widely believed to have a secret nuclear arsenal although authorities have never confirmed or denied this under a policy of ambiguity.