Pyongyang: North Korea has slammed Japan for what it calls ‘a lack of respect’ over the death of the nation’s long-term ruler Kim Jong-il. On Tuesday, North Korea fired the first verbal salvo at Japan, with a statement that criticised the Japanese government for holding a security meeting on news of Kim Jong-il’s death on December 19. Pyongyang slammed Tokyo for forbidding North Korean sympathisers in Japan from travelling to the North to pay condolences, The Wall Street Journal reports. It also criticised Japan for the pressure it has put on North Korea to return Japanese citizens who were abducted by the North over the years. North Korea criticised Japanese lawmakers for speculating that the transition of leadership in Pyongyang might lead to a collapse of the authoritarian system.
It also called Japan “the laughingstock of the world” because of its frequent changes in government.
“Japan has topped the world list of replacing prime ministers, becoming the laughingstock of the world, and not a day passes without unstable domestic politics,” the statement said. “Japan will never understand the social system. North’s dictatorial regime was the ‘most stable in the world’,” it added. North Korea also slammed South Korea for “committed thrice-cursed crimes,” including not allowing people to visit the North to mourn Kim Jong-il. According to the paper, the comments clearly show the regime now led by Kim Jong-il`s son Kim Jong-un appears to be returning to its traditional pattern of lashing out at the countries it has long portrayed to its citizens as enemies - South Korea, Japan and the US.
ANI