WASHINGTON — Even as he talked about North Korea's nuclear ambitions and other weighty matters, President Bush on Wednesday returned to his occasional role as fashion critic to the White House press corps.

"If I might say, that is a beautiful suit ... and I can't see that anybody else comes close," the president told NBC's Kevin Corke, wearing pinstripes, in the course of a Rose Garden news conference that focused largely on North Korea-related diplomacy and the Iraq war.

Corke responded: "I'll be happy to pass along my tailor's number if you'd like that, sir."

Soon after, the president asserted that CNN's Suzanne Malveaux was "the first best-dressed person here."

By the time Bush called on Jim Axelrod of CBS, the reporter felt compelled to start with a defensive comment: "My best suit's in the cleaners', " Axelrod explained to the president.

"That's not even a suit," Bush retorted, eyeing Axelrod's sport coat and slacks.

Bush, who has suits made by Georges de Paris, the tailor to presidents since Lyndon Johnson's time, has teased reporters about their appearance in the past. In June, he poked fun at CNN's David Gregory for his loud pocket scarf.

"Gregory, fine-looking scarf — not scarf, what do you call that thing?" said Bush. "It's strong."

In August, while discussing the war in Lebanon, Bush took note of a suit worn by Ken Herman of Cox Newspapers, saying: "By the way, seersucker is coming back."

Later in the news conference Bush again referred to the summer-weight material, calling it "that just ridiculous-looking outfit."Asked about the president's commentary, White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said Bush is "a personable man. And although he's president and that's a serious job, he does like to reach out to others in friendly ways."

Some who study presidential news conferences were reluctant to attach great meaning to the byplay.

"I think this is probably the way he deals with people in social encounters," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. "It may make him feel more comfortable."

Herman, the seersucker-wearing newspaper reporter, was amused by the media dust-up over Bush's comments on his suit. "If there's anything reporters know better than math, it's fashion," he said, referring to the sartorial indifference of many journalists.