North Korean state media say China dancing to US tune
TOKYO — North Korea’s state-run news agency issued a tough critique of China on Thursday, suggesting Beijing’s criticism of the North’s recent missile test and suspension of imports of North Korean coal are tantamount to the actions of an enemy state “dancing to the tune of the U.S.”
The article took a tone normally reserved for North Korea’s overt enemies — Washington, Tokyo and Seoul.
Without directly using China’s name, but referring to it as “a neighbouring country, which often claims itself to be a ‘friendly neighbour,’” the Korean Central News Agency report accused Beijing of essentially abandoning North Korea in favour of the United States by cutting off imports of coal in compliance with United Nations sanctions.
“This country, styling itself a big power, is dancing to the tune of the U.S. while defending its mean behaviour with such excuses that it (the suspension of coal imports) was meant not to have a negative impact on the living of the people in the DPRK but to check its nuclear program,” it said. DPRK is short for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.