North Korean state media warned Thursday Beijing was crossing a \u00ab\u00a0red line\u00a0\u00bb in its relationship with Pyongyang.<\/b>
\nA commentary in the state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun vowed the country would not give up its nuclear program and accused China of \u00ab\u00a0dancing to the tune of the US\u00a0\u00bb and providing Washington excuses to deploy more military assets to the Korean peninsula.
The commentary urged two Chinese state-run newspapers, the People’s Daily and Global Times, to refrain from making reckless remarks which risked undermining relations between the two countries.
It comes after increased criticism of North Korea in Chinese state media amid heightened tensions in the region.
‘Will never beg’
Rodong Sinmun specifically criticized the Chinese media’s call for more sanctions against North Korea as a way to avert war.
\u00ab\u00a0We didn’t cross the ‘red line’ of the (North Korea) -China relationship, \u00a0\u00bb the commentary said. \u00ab\u00a0China is violently stomping on and crossing it without hesitation.\u00a0\u00bb
It said the two Chinese publications asserted the North Korean nuclear weapons program was a threat to China.
\u00ab\u00a0They even talked rubbish that (North Korea) strains the situation in northeast Asia and ‘offers the US excuses for deploying more strategic assets’ in the region, \u00a0\u00bb said the commentary attributed to an author named Kim Chol.
The commentary said North Korea’s nuclear program exists to protect the country from invasion and Pyongyang would not scrap it to ease tensions.
\u00a0\u00bb (North Korea) will never beg for the maintenance of friendship with China, risking its nuclear program which is a precious as its own life, no matter how valuable the friendship is, \u00a0\u00bb it said.
‘Hyper-aggressive’
Asked about the commentary Thursday, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Geng Shuang said Beijing had been firm in its call for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula \u00ab\u00a0to maintain the peace and stability of the region.\u00a0\u00bb
Global Times, a state-sanctioned tabloid, slammed the Rodong Sinmun in a rebuttal Thursday.
\u00ab\u00a0The editorial is nothing more than a hyper-aggressive piece completely filled with nationalistic passion, \u00a0\u00bb it said. \u00ab\u00a0Pyongyang is obviously grappling with some form of irrational logic over its nuclear program.\u00a0\u00bb
But it did offer slight praise for Pyongyang for not yet conducting a sixth nuclear test and for being \u00ab\u00a0comparatively restrained\u00a0\u00bb in recent missile tests. The last of those was last week, when a North Korea test missile exploded over the North Korean territory, before it reached the ocean.
Meanwhile, the US has continued military drills that have infuriated North Korea.
The latest of those was Monday, when two US B-1 bombers from Guam conducted a joint drill with South Korea and Japan’s air forces over the Korean Peninsula, according to the US Air Force.
After that exercise, Pyongyang said the US actions were bringing the region \u00ab\u00a0to a point close to nuclear war.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

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