North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) guides the multiple-rocket launching drill of women's sub-units under KPA Unit 851, in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) KCNA/Reuters The United States on Thursday condemned "ugly and disrespectful" racist comments directed towards President Barack Obama by North Korea's official KCNA news agency.

"While the North Korean Government-controlled media are distinguished by their histrionics, these comments are particularly ugly and disrespectful," National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden told AFP.

Hayden was referring to a diatribe attacking Obama, published in Korean by KCNA last week, extracts of which were reported by the Washington Post on Thursday.

According to the Post's translation, KCNA unleashed a barrage of racist insults at Obama, describing him as a "crossbreed with unclear blood" who had "the figure of a monkey."

"It would be perfect for Obama to live with a group of monkeys in the world's largest African natural zoo and lick the bread crumbs thrown by spectators," the Post cited the commentary as saying.

KCNA has taken its often bombastic rhetoric to new levels in recent weeks, last month decrying South Korean President Park Geun-Hye as a "prostitute" in thrall to her "pimp" Obama, while declaring it was ready for "full-scale nuclear war."