SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's state media on Friday stepped up a personal attack on former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden for slandering its leader, calling the Democratic presidential candidate "a rabid dog" that needed to be put down.
The official KCNA news agency did not say how Biden had insulted the North's leader, Kim Jong Un, but the 2020 presidential hopeful has been critical of U.S. President Donald Trump's policy, saying he was coddling a murderous dictator.
Misspelling Biden's name, KCNA said the former vice president was showing signs of "the final stage of dementia", and the "time has come for him to depart his life".
In a commentary, it said, "Such a guy had the temerity to dare slander the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK," using the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"It was the last-ditch efforts of the rabid dog expediting his death," KCNA said. "Rabid dogs like Baiden [sic] can hurt lots of people if they are allowed to run about. They must be beaten to death with a stick, before it is too late."
In contrast, the North has credited a "close personal relationship" between Kim and Trump for saving ties between their countries from a destructive pattern of hostility.
The leaders have met three times to discuss improving ties and ending the North's nuclear weapons programme.
Trump backed a previous personal attack on Biden by the North and dismissed criticism that he was siding with a foreign dictator over a fellow American.
In May, North Korea had called Biden "an imbecile" for criticising its leader.
(Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)