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.”
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
RSS