North Korea's state newspaper claims the US is secretly plotting to 'unleash a war' while continuing to negotiate 'with a smile on its face'
- North Korean state media has accused the US of plotting to "unleash a war" on North Korea while continuing to negotiate "with a smile on its face."
- Sunday's Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the official mouthpiece of the ruling Worker's Party of Korea, called out what it claims were US military movements in the region as practice for a potential invasion of Pyongyang.
- The strongly-worded piece comes just days after President Trump canceled a planned trip to North Korea by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
- On Monday, South Korea said that Pompeo's abrupt cancelation is having an "effect" on the inter-Korean liaison office that was slated to open this month.
North Korean state media has accused the US of plotting to "unleash war" on the country while continuing to negotiate "with a smile on its face."
Sunday's Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the official mouthpiece of the ruling Worker's Party of Korea, called out "extremely provocative and dangerous" US military movements in the region.
The paper cited a South Korean radio broadcast claiming that US "special units" in Japan staged a flying drill in the Philippines simulating "the infiltration into Pyongyang."
It also claimed that the USS Michigan, a nuclear Navy submarine, transported Green Berets and other special forces from Okinawa, Japan to the Jinhae naval base south Korea in late July or early August.
"Such acts prove that the US is hatching a criminal plot to unleash a war against the DPRK [North Korea] and commit a crime which deserves merciless divine punishment in case the US fails in the scenario of the DPRK's unjust and brigandish "denuclearization first."
"We can not but take a serious note of the double-dealing attitudes of the US as it is busy staging secret drills involving man-killing special units while having a dialogue with a smile on its face," the op-ed reads.
The US military called the accusations made in the paper "far-fetched," according to the Washington Post.
The strongly-worded piece comes just days after President Trump canceled a planned trip to North Korea by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Trump on Friday said the plans were halted because the North Korea had not made "sufficient" efforts to denuclearize and because of the trade war with China, the regime's closest ally.
"Secretary Pompeo looks forward to going to North Korea in the near future, most likely after our Trading relationship with China is resolved. In the meantime I would like to send my warmest regards and respect to Chairman Kim. I look forward to seeing him soon!" Trump said in a series of tweets Saturday.
Reports have indicated that relations between North Korea and the US are growing sour after the US asked North Korea to reveal its secret nuclear facilities, and they claimed none existed.
Some independent assessments have suggested that North Korea may actually be increasing its nuclear production.
On Monday, South Korea said that Pompeo's abrupt cancelation is having an "effect" on the inter-Korean liaison office that was slated to open this month.
"We were thinking of the opening of the liaison office as part of a smooth series of schedules including Secretary of State Pompeo's North Korea visit then the inter-Korean summit," South Korea's presidential Blue House spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said Monday.
"Now that a new situation has arisen, there is a need to inspect it again accordingly."