SEOUL - South Korea's Foreign Minister Han seung-Soo was dismissed Monday as he flew back to seoul from key talks with U.S. officials on North Korea.

Han, who had been in office less than a year, was a victim of the growing war of words between the United States and North Korea, according to media reports.

The office of President Kim dae-Jung announced han would be replaced by Vice Foreign Minister Choi sung-Hong before the foreign minister's plane from Washington had landed, AFP reported.

Han had been in Washington for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

The talks were to lay the groundwork for a summit in Seoul between Kim and U.S. President George W. Bush on February 20.

The South Korean leader is hoping for a convincing statement of support from Bush for his rapprochement policy with the Stalinist North.

Bush's state of the union speech last week set alarm bells ringing in Seoul when he said North Korea was part of an "axis of evil" with Iran and Iraq.

Han was partly blamed for not doing enough in the face of mounting U.S.-North Korean tensions, Yonhap news agency said.

But presidential spokesman Park sun-Sook said han had chosen to resign last week after President Kim carried out a major reshuffle.

She said his replacement "had nothing to do with" worsening U.S.-North Korean relations.

Han, a lawmaker with the small democratic people's party, took office in March last year.

The urgent task of bridging the widening gap between Seoul and Washington over North Korea policy has now fallen to Choi, a former ambassador to London.

The United States, which fought with the capitalist south in the 1950-53 Korean War, still has 37,000 troops in South Korea guarding against new hostilities.

But Bush's tougher line with the North since he took office last year has been blamed for undermining President Kim's "sunshine policy" aimed at encouraging the North to open up.

North Korea hit back at Bush's speech, saying U.S. hostility was a sign of the Washington administration's "moral leprosy" and warning Pyongyang was ready to fight a war.

On Saturday, North Korea's leader Kim jong-Il was quoted by official news agency KCNA speaking out against Washington during a visit to an army unit.

"No force on earth can overpower these great forces firmly determined not to allow any aggressors to dare invade the inviolable territory of our country," he said.

Relations between North Korea and the U.S., already cool since Bush took office and adopted a tough stance toward Pyongyang, have now become considerably frostier.

Bush offered to resume talks in June last year, urging the North to reduce its conventional forces and halt the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

But the North has rejected Washington's calls, claiming it could become the next target of the U.S.-led war against terrorism.