North Korea urges South to distance itself from US

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Saturday escalated its attempt to create a rift between South Korea and the United States, as Washington sent mixed signals over whether it would tighten or relax sanctions on the North.

Ever since the summit between the North’s leader, Kim Jong Un, and President Donald Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam, late last month abruptly ended without a deal, North Korea has ceaselessly urged South Korea to distance itself from the United States and to push ahead with joint economic projects that have been held back by U.s.-led United Nations sanctions.

North Korea’s official trade has been devastated by international sanctions imposed since 2016. The country has tried to circumvent them by importing refined fuel or exporting coal through ship-to-ship transfers on the high seas, a move banned under U.N. sanctions. It has also sought to undermine the sanctions by boosting economic cooperation with South Korea.

President Moon Jae-in of South Korea remains eager to boost interkorean economic ties, raising fears at home and abroad that he may steer his government away from international efforts to enforce sanctions against the North. But in reality, Moon’s hands are tied unless the United States and North Korea reach an agreement on denuclearizing the North and Washington helps to ease sanctions.

On Saturday, DPRK Today, a North Korean government-run website, accused Moon’s government of reneging on its promise to improve inter-korean ties and giving priority to “cooperation with a foreign force” over “cooperation among the Korean nation.”

“The South Korean authorities’ behavior is deeply deplorable,” it said. “The only things the South will get from cooperating with the U.S. will be a deepening subordination, humiliation and shame.”

North Korean state media has been issuing similar messages in recent days, even denigrating Moon’s efforts to mediate talks between his “American boss” and North Korea, and advising Moon’s government to throw its policy “in a garbage can.”

Moon suffered another slap in the face when the North abruptly withdrew its staff from a joint inter-korean liaison office Friday.

“The South’s authorities can’t do anything without approval or instruction from the United States, so how do they think they can be a mediator or facilitator?” the North Korean website Meari said Friday. “They should know their place.”