26 August 2017

News Story: N. Korea criticizes China, Russia for taking U.S. side on sanctions

SEOUL, Aug. 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Friday accused China and Russia of currying favor with the United States, claiming they colluded with each other to distort the truth and churn out unjust sanctions against Pyongyang.

The communist nation is up in arms about the U.S.-led international sanctions for its nuclear and missile programs, most recently highlighted by the test-firing of two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in July.

Earlier this month, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to adopt another resolution aimed at cutting the North's annual export revenue by a third.

While there's some indications of a let-up in provocations and war threats by the North's military and state agencies in recent weeks, its propaganda media have continued to blame the U.S. and other regional powers, including China and Russia, for escalating tensions.

"The U.S. and its vassal forces stress that (North) Korea is liable for the situation on the Korean Peninsula inching close to a war phase," Jong Myong-chol, researcher at the Institute of International Studies of Korea, said in an English-language article carried by the state news agency KCNA.

"Some big powers around Korea are asserting that both the DPRK and the U.S. are to blame for the current aggravated situation on the peninsula," he added. "But the DPRK is strong and firm in its stand that the responsibility for the current tense situation entirely rests with the U.S. and its vassal forces."

Read the full story at YonhapNews