US condemns N Korea’s ‘ugly’ salvo at Obama

The United States has condemned as "ugly and disrespectful" racist comments directed at Barack Obama by North Korea’s official KCNA news agency, comparing the US president to a black "monkey" in a zoo.

North Korean propaganda is known for vitriolic personal attacks on foreign leaders, but the recently published KCNA dispatch — not long after Obama’s visit to South Korea — stood out for its use of highly inflammatory and abusive racist language.

“The way Obama looks disgusts me,” said one worker at an ironworks factory.

“He looks like an African monkey with a black face... and protruding, hairy ears.

“And he acts just like a monkey in an African zoo... licking up the breadcrumbs thrown by visitors,” the worker said.

Four people were interviewed in total and all their comments were similar in their racist nature, with one referring to Obama as “sub-animal”.

“While the North Korean government-controlled media are distinguished by their histrionics, these comments are particularly ugly and disrespectful,” National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said.

Even before the dispatch, KCNA had ramped up its rhetoric in the wake of Obama’s visit to Seoul, calling South Korean president Park Geun-Hye a “prostitute” in thrall to her “pimp” Obama.

North Korea is notorious for inflammatory, warlike rhetoric against its rivals South Korea and the US but had rarely used racial slurs in its verbal attacks.