TOKYO – North Korean media stepped up their rhetorical attacks on South Korea and joint military exercises with the United States, warning Tuesday that a budding detente could be in danger. State media unleashed three strongly worded commentaries slamming Seoul and Washington for the maneuvers and demanding Seoul take action against defectors it claimed were sending anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets across the border.
The official media had until recently taken a relatively subdued tone amid the North’s diplomatic overtures to its neighbors, including a summit with South Korea’s president last month and plans for leader Kim Jong Un to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore on June 12.
That first changed last week, when it lashed out against the maneuvers, cut high-level contacts with Seoul and threatened to “reconsider” the Trump summit.
One of the reports Tuesday, which came as North Korea allowed an airplane full of foreign journalists into the country to cover the dismantling of its nuclear test site this week, accused Seoul of teaming up with Washington for military drills intended as a show of force and as a “war drill” against it.
It’s not unusual for North Korea’s official media to turn to hyperbole to make a point and the rhetorical barrage coincides with a visit to Washington by South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Strongly worded messages don’t necessarily mean it is backing away from diplomatic negotiations.