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North Korean demolishes the Inter-Korean Joint Liaison Office in Kaesong on June 16. (Yonhap News)

The People’s Daily, Xinhua News, and other influential government-run news outlets in China have been omitting commentary and reporting only the facts in bulletins regarding the sudden onslaught of tension-raising activities by North Korea. The state-run CCTV network did not address the issue even as a sidebar in its evening news on June 16.

Meanwhile, the People’s Daily sister daily Global Times published a June 17 piece quoting Zhao Lijian, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, as saying that “the DPRK and the ROK share the same ethnic origin. As a close neighbor, China always remains committed to sustained peace and stability on the Peninsula.”

The same report noted that “Russia has urged restraint from both North and South, while the European Union has warned the North not to pursue additional provocations.”

”N. Korea pressuring Trump before election, fearing return to “strategic patience” approach”

In contrast, Guancha and other websites showed major interest in the issue, including reports on North Korea’s rejection of South Korea’s proposal to send a special envoy. Some noted the possibility that the US administration could return to its “strategic patience” approach if Democratic Party nominee Joseph Biden is elected president in the November election amid sliding support ratings for incumbent Donald Trump, and even describing the situation as one in which the North Korea will feel compelled to lash out at the Trump administration somehow before the election.

The online news site Pengpai (The Paper) observed, “This situation is not limited to the scattering of leaflets in North Korea by defectors. The North began taking hostile action according to its own schedule without even giving the South an opportunity to resolve the issue.”

“This indicates that the North does not want dialogue with the South, and that its pressure and blows against South Korea are targeting the US,” it concluded.

The same site went on to say that “the US holds the key to the North Korean nuclear issue, and North Korea’s aim is to get the US to move by going after South Korea.”

“The North would welcome it if the South recognized the perilous state of inter-Korean relations and adopted bold policy measures, but if the South continues with its current policies, [North Korea] will continue ratcheting up pressure on the South and announcing to the world the bankruptcy of the US policies toward North Korea that President Donald Trump has been vaunting as a diplomatic achievement,” it predicted.

China News quoted Jilin University international politics professor Wang Sheng as saying, “North Korea had high hopes for inter-Korean relations, but South Korea’s North Korea policy has been constrained by US factors, and with domestic conservatives also having to be taken into account, it has been unable to make any major steps.”

“[The demolition of the joint inter-Korean liaison office] may have been a measure by Workers’ Party of Korea Central Committee Deputy Director Kim Yo-jong to cement her position at a time when she is assuming a central role in South Korea-related affairs,” Wang suggested.

Yang Xiyu, a senior fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, told the same news outlet, “The North’s mention of a wartime readiness posture seemed more like a political action than a declaration of war toward the South.”

“The North may regard [raising tension] as a ‘two birds with one stone’ approach: going after South Korea because of US policies, while going after the US for blocking the removal of sanctions against North Korea,” he said.

By Jung In-hwan, Beijing correspondent

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