North Korea denounced its chief ally and diplomatic protector China for “dancing to the tune of the US” after it banned coal imports in apparent punishment for a missile launch.
Beijing and Pyongyang have a relationship forged in the blood of the Korean War, but ties have begun to fray, with China increasingly exasperated by its wayward neighbor’s nuclear antics.
Last week it announced the suspension of all coal imports from North Korea — a crucial foreign currency earner for Pyongyang — for the rest of the year.
It came days after a missile launch personally overseen by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in what was seen as Pyongyang’s first show of force against US President Donald Trump.
A bylined essay carried by the North’s official Korea Central News Agency criticized Beijing’s move.
It did not identify China by name, referring instead to “a neighboring country.”
“This country, styling itself a big power, is dancing to the tune of the US,” it said. “It has unhesitatingly taken inhumane steps such as totally blocking foreign trade related to the improvement of people’s living standard.”
“Righteous voices” had condemned the move, it said, while “the hostile forces are shouting ‘bravo’ over this.”
The format was unusual for the agency, which tends not to carry editorials or commentaries of its own, preferring to reproduce those of Rodong Sinmun, the official mouthpiece of the ruling Workers’ Party.
The tone was also more akin to Pyongyang’s denunciations of the US.
It was “utterly childish” to think that North Korea would stop its nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile programs if a few pennies of money were cut off, the essay said.
Its scientists and technicians were “working hard in do-or-die spirit,” it added.
The latest launch showed some progress in Pyongyang’s missile technology, Seoul’s military said.
The North — barred under UN resolutions from any use of ballistic missile technology — staged two nuclear tests and many missile tests last year in a quest to develop a nuclear weapon capable of hitting the US mainland.
Trump has described North Korea as a “big, big problem” and vowed to deal with the issue “very strongly.”
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