North Korea state media mentioned the dispute between the United States and China over Chinese tech giant on Sunday. File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo

June 9 (UPI) -- North Korea criticized the Trump administration's "America first" policy and claimed the United States is trying to put an end to China's economic growth through the ongoing trade dispute.

Korean Workers' Party paper Rodong stated Sunday the United States is engaged in policy that does not meet the needs of changing times in a rare editorial that informed North Koreans of international affairs.


The Rodong Sinmun said the U.S.-China trade war was becoming more "fierce" at a time when fair or "equal economic development" is becoming "increasingly the norm." North Korean media said the trade dispute is not compatible with contemporary times.

Pyongyang's state-controlled media rarely mentions world events, but the editorial issued Sunday also raised the issue of the U.S. boycott of Huawei, the Chinese tech giant U.S. authorities suspect has been creating security risks for networked technologies.

"The United States has declared a state of emergency in the name of protecting information and communications systems from 'outside enemies'," the Rodong stated. "The economic confrontation between China and the United States is intensifying in a vicious cycle of retaliation, and is spreading tensions into other fields, including in politics and the military."

North Korea also said the U.S. House of Representatives adopted the Taiwan Assurance Act and that China does not tolerate "foreign interference" in domestic affairs; Beijing does not recognize Taiwanese sovereignty under its One-China policy.

Pyongyang is criticizing U.S. policy at a time when the United States and South Korea have indefinitely postponed joint military exercises on the peninsula.

Seoul has replaced the annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises with the Ulchi Taegeuk drills, which took place May 27-30.

North Korea propaganda service Uriminzokkiri said Sunday the exercises threaten North-South relations, and that the South's pledge to provide humanitarian aid was a "peripheral, ostensible display" that lacks sincerity.

Pyongyang has previously claimed crops have been damaged due to drought. The South responded with a promise to deliver $8 million in aid.

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