Pyongyang excommunicates China: a decadent and unprincipled country
Seoul (AsiaNews) - China "is a country without principles, bourgeois and decadent." The sentence is taken from the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North Korean government, and represents the latest step in the cooling of relations between Beijing and Pyongyang.
The criticism, contained in a wide-ranging editorial on the "state of the world" actually reflects the regime's disappointment at Xi Jinping's decision to go on a state visit to Seoul before Pyongyang. The decision of the Chinese leader is a first in the history of bilateral relations, given that since the days of Kim Il-sung, China is considered the greatest ally and trading partner of the last Stalinist state in the world.
The cooling
of relations - and North Korea's drawing closer to Russia, which recently canceled
a debt owed by Pyongyang to the tune of 10 billion US dollars - does not seem
to concern the general population. According to some New Focus sources on
the Sino-Korean border, " none of the ordinary North Koreans felt any
benefits from that trade - they got nothing. Money and basic necessities from
China have always ended up in the hands of the soldiers and the Party ,
certainly not the people. "
Indeed, the source continues, "while this may mean smaller profits and
reduced bribes for party officials, trade suspension does not concern ordinary
people, not least because most of the outside goods that they depend on are
smuggled in through 'illegal' channels. Yesterday, we delivered 50 sacks of
herbal medicine safely to China".
As for the future of bilateral relations, the source has no doubts: "Talk
of the worsening relationship between China and Kim Jong-un are widespread and
on the lips of many people. Some
shake their heads at the current state of North Korea-China relations, even
expressing skepticism about what a child (Kim Jong-un) can know and do about
outside relations?".
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12/02/2016 15:14
22/11/2017 10:27
