'Kim Il Sung is to be blamed for deaths of Chinese soldiers,' says China’s state media

China’s state media has criticized North Korea by mentioning its founding father Kim Il Sung in its response to a warning against China by North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA has previously criticized China saying that it crossed a red line regarding China’s sanctions on North Korea.

The social media account run by the international edition of China’s official People's Daily published Thursday a critique titled, “Korean Central News Agency’s Warning against China is not Reasonable,” accusing Kim Il Sung’s accountability for the Korean War. According to the critique, the writer blamed Kim Il Sung for the lives of some 200,000 Chinese soldiers that could have been saved if Kim had not initiated the war to unify the Korean Peninsula. The writer went further to say that Kim’s attack on South Korea prompted a 20-year long diplomatic standoff between China and the U.S. and gave a birth to lingering problems unsolved yet between two countries, complaining North Korea’s mulishness.

“If North Korea thinks the relations between North Korea and China is twisted after China stood against North Korea’s nuclear program, of which North Korea thinks as its sovereign right, North Korea is right about it,” the writer wrote. “North Korea says countries supporting its nuclear program are its friends, and the others are its foes. In this perspective, every country is North Korea’s foe.”

In response to KCNA’s comments on Wednesday that North Korea has provided a buffer zone between China and the U.S. since 1950 to safeguard peace and safety of China and thus China should thank North Korea for it, the writer wrote, “North Korea believes China has to accept every request from North Korea as North Korea has helped China keep its national security strong by serving as a bridge to anti-American policies for the previous 70 years. But it is absurd and shameless attitude.” The writer has suggested China rather protected North Korea’s national security.

Ja-Ryong Koo bonhong@donga.com