I read a piece of news about NORTH Korea who has hit back at comments by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, describing her in an unusually personal attack as not intelligent and a "funny lady".

A foreign ministry spokesman quoted by the communist state's official news agency accused Clinton of making "a spate of vulgar remarks unbecoming for her position everywhere she went since she was sworn in".

"We cannot but regard Mrs Clinton as a funny lady as she likes to utter such rhetoric, unaware of the elementary etiquette in the international community," the spokesman said.

"Sometimes she looks like a primary schoolgirl and sometimes a pensioner going shopping."

The North took particular umbrage at recent comments by Mrs Clinton likening Pyongyang's recent missile launches to the behaviour of an unruly attention-seeking teenager.

"Her words suggest that she is by no means intelligent," the statement said, adding that Pyongyang is protecting itself against "the US hostile policy and nuclear threat, not to attract anyone's attention".

Mrs Clinton could make a contribution to US foreign policy "only when she has understanding of the world".

At a regional security forum in the Thai resort of Phuket, Mrs Clinton urged members to enforce the UN sanctions imposed against the North for its nuclear and missile tests.