North Korea repeated Friday its calls for the visit to Seoul by President George W. Bush to be cancelled. Radio Pyongyang said President Bush's visit was an act that would increase tension on the peninsula and prevent "intra-Korean peace and unification," insisting he call off his trip to the South, which it labeled a follow-up to a tough anti-North Korea policy.

With regard to Bush's "axis of evil" comment in his State of the Union Address, the radio said it was unprecedented in the history of Pyongyang and Washington, and expressed a threat of war against North Korea directly. It called on every ethnic North Korean to be prepared for confrontation and strife.

Pyongyang had expressed concerns over Bush's visit to Seoul in a commentary in the state-run Rodong Shinmun on February 13 and the next day added that it would pay cautious attention to Bush's behavior towards Seoul.

(Kim In-gu, ginko@chosun.com )