As summit looms, North Korean media return to angry tone
TOKYO — North Korean media stepped up their rhetorical attacks on South Korea and joint military exercises with the United States, warning Tuesday that a budding detente could be in danger.
State media unleashed three strongly worded commentaries slamming Seoul and Washington for the manoeuvrs and demanding Seoul take action against defectors it claimed were sending anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets across the border.
The official media had until recently taken a relatively subdued tone amid the North’s diplomatic overtures to its neighbours, including a summit with South Korea’s president last month and plans for leader Kim Jong Un to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore on June 12.
That first changed last week, when it lashed out against the manoeuvrs, cut high-level contacts with Seoul and threatened to “reconsider” the Trump summit.