North Korea has denounced Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara as being a "fanatic ultranationalist and a war maniac" following remarks he made last Sunday regarding the abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korea.

The Korean Central News Agency on Friday described Ishihara as "an ultraright reactionary of Japan" and "a mentally deranged fellow who does not know what a war is like," in response to his remark, made on a TV Asahi talk show, that Japan has good reason to go to war with North Korea.

According to KCNA, Pyongyang's government newspaper, the Minju Joson, also criticized Ishihara, saying in its Saturday edition that Ishihara's "way of thinking and behavior bears close resemblance to the 17th-century literature protagonist Quixote."