N Korea most brutal place on earth: McCain

OXFORD-MISSISSIPPI: Republican John McCain Friday ruled out holding talks with North Korea without preconditions, calling it the "most repressive and brutal region probably on earth."

"We don't know what the status of the dear leader's health is today," McCain said in his first presidential debate with Democrat Barack Obama, in reference to Kim Jong Il who has reportedly suffered a stroke.

"But we know this, the North Koreans have broken every agreement they've entered into." The veteran senator also said he did not agree with the position of Obama who said he would "sit down across the table from, without precondition it's just dangerous."

And McCain added: "The average South Korean is three inches taller than the average North Korean." Pyongyang has said it is restarting its suspect nuclear program, accusing Washington of breaking an agreement to remove it from the US list of countries that sponsor terrorism, after it began to dismantle its atomic program.

The six-party international nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea may be near breakdown after the communist state announced moves to restart its atomic plants, South Korea's Foreign Minister Yu Myung-Hwan warned earlier.

"We are at a difficult situation where we may be going back to square one," Yu admitted, saying that the North's tactics may be linked to the upcoming US presidential election.

Yu's comments came after North Korea earlier this week announced it would start work to resume plutonium reprocessing at its Yongbyon complex, possibly within a week.