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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a visit to a pork factory in an air force unit

North Korea has warned of “catastrophic consequences” for China, which has recently joined the US in putting more pressure on North Korea. Amid proposals for China to curtail its supply of petroleum to the North, the two sides seem to be waging a muted war of nerves.

“A neighboring country has recently been unable to say a single word about the US sending an unprecedented amount of strategic assets to waters near the Korean Peninsula and pushing the circumstances to the brink of war, and it has been openly threatening to do something to us,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in an Apr. 21 column that was titled “Is it really that great to dance to another’s tune?” and signed by an individual.

The KCNA, North Korea’s official state media, criticized this “neighboring country” for “jabbering on about how we ought to reconsider the importance of our relations with it since we won’t be able to endure someone’s ‘economic sanctions’ and how it can guarantee our safety and provide us with the support and aid that is necessary for our economic revival.”

“If they miscalculate our resolve and keep relying on economic sanctions against us as they dance to someone else’s tune, they may receive the applause and praise of our enemies, but they will have to resign themselves to the catastrophic consequences that this will have for their relations with us,” the KCNA warned.

While the KCNA column used the expression “neighboring country,” the context makes clear that this was aimed at China, which has been intensifying its pressure on North Korea since its summit with the US on Apr. 6 and 7. The KCNA‘s reference to “a claim by its official media on Apr. 18 that our pursuit of nuclear and missile plans has turned the US, their adversary in times past, into their collaborator” is consistent with what was reported by the Chinese state-run Global Times on that same day.

But the fact that the remarks were made not in a statement by officials but rather in a column signed by an individual appears to indicate that Pyongyang does not want the situation to deteriorate. On Feb. 23, after China decided to completely suspend imports of coal from North Korea, the KCNA printed a column signed by an individual that criticized China under the title, “Poor behavior, childish calculations.”

State-run media in China have been calling for the supply of petroleum to North Korea to be reduced. In an editorial on Apr. 22, the Global Times said that China ought to strengthen its sanctions within the framework of the UN Security Council if North Korea carries out a sixth nuclear test. A major reduction in the supply of petroleum to North Korea, the newspaper said, would be a key measure. This should not be a complete suspension of the supply of petroleum, but rather a reduction that would not cause a humanitarian disaster in the North, the newspaper added.

“On one hand, Beijing has made efforts to persuade Pyongyang that it is unwilling to listen. On the other hand, China has proposed a ‘double suspension’ [of North Korea’s nuclear and missile activities and of the US and South Korea’s joint military exercises] but neither of the parties has been listening,” the editorial said, emphasizing the “difficult situation” in which China finds itself. While this newspaper sometimes expresses the positions of the Chinese government on thorny diplomatic issues, it cannot always be assumed to represent the Chinese government’s official position.

This editorial appears to reflect the views of hardliners inside China on policy toward North Korea, amid increasing pressure from the US for China to take action to resolve the North Korean nuclear program and with Pyongyang not amenable to persuasion.

By Kim Oi-hyun, Beijing correspondent and Jung In-hwan, staff reporter

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