North Korea threatens China with a 'nuclear storm'

N. Korea threatens China with nuclear attacks.

(Image credit: UNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images)

published 31 March 2016

The United Nations' recently implemented sanctions against North Korea are already driving a wedge between longtime allies North Korea and China, a document from the Workers' Party of North Korea reveals. In the document, the Workers' Party condemns Beijing for partaking in the sanctions aimed at curbing North Korea's nuclear program and urges its people to confront China with a "nuclear storm" for its alleged "betrayal of socialism," Daily NK reports.

"We must no longer go easy on the Chinese and instead deal with them equally in order to change their attitude of taking us lightly," the document reportedly reads, declaring China an "enemy state." Up until this point, the two nations had kept close ties since signing the Sino-North Korean Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance in 1961.

With North Korea's dismay at China's "eager" participation — which it says is a ploy to protect its "status of dominance in Northeast Asia" — the key relationship could meet its demise, Sino-North Korea relations expert Lee Young Hwa, a professor at Kansai University, told Daily NK. "There is a high possibility that Sino-North Korea relations will not only deteriorate," he said, "but lead to tensions as well."