North Korean state media on Wednesday slammed former US vice president Joe Biden as an "imbecile" and a "fool of low IQ" after he criticised leader Kim Jong Un.
Biden, who served two terms as President Barack Obama's deputy, has been on the campaign trail since announcing last month his candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination in the 2020 presidential election.
And some of his comments about the North Korean leadership during campaigning appear to have angered Pyongyang, sparking the colourful commentary by its official news agency KCNA.
It accused Biden of "slandering the supreme leadership" of North Korea -- a term usually referring to leader Kim -- and said the former senator had become "reckless and senseless, seized by ambition for power".
"What he uttered is just sophism of an imbecile bereft of elementary quality as a human being, let alone a politician."