Washington ? North Korea has called off a visit by a group of former U.S. ambassadors, apparently because of President Bush’s harsh words about the country, members of the unofficial delegation said Saturday.

The trip had been arranged at North Korea’s invitation as a way to expand informal dialogue between two countries locked in a hostile relationship. But North Korean officials told the ex-diplomats on Friday not to come.

The delegates, who included four former ambassadors to South Korea, had planned to meet senior North Korean officials later this month. They attributed the cancellation to President Bush’s criticism of North Korea in his State of the Union speech.

“They probably found it very offensive,” said William H. Gleysteen, envoy to South Korea during the Carter administration. “I’m sure it happened because of the State of the Union address.”

Robert A. Scalapino, professor emeritus at the University of California, agreed. “The use of incendiary language is not fruitful,” he said. Scalapino helped organize the trip and planned to go himself.

Tensions have been high between the Bush administration and North Korea, a desperately poor but highly militarized state that Bush labeled part of an “axis of evil.”

He accused North Korea, Iraq and Iran of threatening stability through the development of weapons of mass destruction and support for terrorism.