President George W. Bush's recent reference to North Korea's leader as "Mr. Kim Jong-il" has raised eyebrows in Pyongyang.

A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman on Friday said his government will see if Bush says anything different in the coming days, alluding to recent blasts of the North by top US officials.

On Monday, Vice President Dick Cheney called Kim "one of the world's more irresponsible leaders, " a view defended two days later by White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

The ministry in a statement also referred to Bush as the US president.