The North Korean government on Friday condemned what it called the "moral leprosy" of US President George W. Bush and said the communist state was powerfully equipped for any conflict.

In the first official reaction to Bush's outspoken State of the Union speech, a Pyongyang foreign ministry spokesman said: "We are sharply watching the disturbing moves of the United States that has pushed the situation to the brink of war."

North Korean state media said meanwhile that US warplanes had carried out scores of reconnaissance flights in recent weeks in preparation for an attack, stepping up the propaganda war with the United States.

The foreign ministry spokesman, quoted by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), said the United

States had become a terrorist target because of Bush.

He said the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington and scandals such as the collapse of the US energy giant Enron were "entirely attributable to the unilateral and self-opinionated foreign policy, political immaturity and moral leprosy of the Bush administration".

In a speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, Bush labelled North Korea, Iran and Iraq an "axis of evil" and said North Korea was building weapons of mass destruction while letting its people starve.

He warned the three nations could become targets of the antiterrorism war unless they end support for extremist groups and curtail the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

The US Central Intelligence Agency later said in a report that

North Korea had remained an active seller of missiles last year to the Middle East and other tension zones.

But the Pyongyang spokesman said Bush's speech was "little short of declaring a war" and justified the communist North's anti-US stand.

"The prevailing situation where the US openly disclosed its intention to stifle the DPRK (North Korea) by force of arms makes us keenly realise once again what a just stand the DPRK took when it has followed the US with vigilance and what a farsighted policy it has pursued to equip itself with powerful offensive and defensive means, tightening its belt."

Despite US declarations that it is still open to talks with North Korea, the speech has heightened anxiety in South Korea where Bush is due to visit next month.