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CINCINNATI — George Bush today assailed a longtime associate’s public relations firm for trying to capitalize on ties to the vice president. “I denounce it,” Bush said.

The vice president said in an interview that he had spoken to Fred Bush, a top Republican fund-raiser who is not related to him, about the solicitation to the Haitian government made by Fred Bush’s partner, Michael Govan.

“I denounce it. I don’t like it. I think it’s wrong,” Bush said, giving his first comment on the matter during an interview aboard Air Force Two en route to Cincinnati.

Asked why voters should believe he would fill a Bush administration with people who were not intent on influence peddling, Bush replied, “They know I’ve been in public life for 20 years, and no one has ever made any allegations about impropriety on my part, because they know how strongly I feel about ethics in government.”

The GOP presidential nominee, who rarely mentions the White House ethics office he proposed early in the campaign, said he still intends to set up one if elected.

Fred Bush has said his partner acted over his veto and without his knowledge in seeking a contract for Bush & Co. to represent Haiti. He called it a “rotten, rotten thing to happen” to him and to the Bush campaign. The firm’s letter touted Fred Bush’s connections to the vice president.

Vessel damaged as a result of ‘absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism’, state media says.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reprimanded officials over a “serious accident and criminal act” that resulted in damage to a newly built warship, state media has reported.

The 5,000-tonne destroyer suffered damage to its hull when a transport cradle detached prematurely during a launch ceremony in the northeastern city of Chongjin, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Thursday, blaming the incident on “inexperienced command and operational carelessness”.

After witnessing the incident, Kim made the “stern assessment” that the accident was caused by “absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism,” which “could not be tolerated”, the KCNA said.

Kim “warned solemnly” that officials responsible for the botched launch “would have to be dealt with” at the next meeting of the central committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, and “censured them for the fault”, according to the KCNA.

Kim ordered the warship to be fixed in time for a plenary meeting of the party’s central committee in June, describing the vessel’s restoration as “not merely a practical issue but a political issue directly related to the authority of the state”, according to the KCNA.

South Korea’s military said Pyongyang appeared to have failed to complete a side-launch of the ship, and it had partially capsized.

Official admissions of incompetence are uncommon in North Korea, where the ruling Kim family enjoys a near God-like status.

The disclosure comes after Kim attended the launch of a “new multipurpose destroyer” equipped with “the most powerful weapons” on April 25.

In state media reports at the time, Kim hailed the vessel as “indispensable in building up our capability for stoutly defending our maritime sovereignty” and an “important starting point of our journey towards building an advanced maritime power”.

“I feel infinitely honoured to proclaim the birth of the first warship of a new generation,” Kim was quoted as saying.