user: North Korea appeared to lash out at Beijing Thursday in a state media commentary, despite the fact that it has long relied on China for economic and diplomatic support. WSJ's Lee Hawkins explains. Photo: 
  
 North Korea appeared to lash out at Beijing in a state-media commentary published Thursday, aiming unusually pointed rhetoric at a powerful neighbor that Pyongyang has long relied on for economic and diplomatic support. 
  
 The commentary, published by the state-controlled Korean Central News Agency, didn’t name China but left little doubt about its target: “a neighboring country, which often claims itself to be a ‘friendly... ||||| SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea issued a rare reproach of China on Thursday saying its main diplomatic backer was “dancing to the tune” of the United States for halting North Korean coal imports because of its nuclear and missile programs. 
  
 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches a performance given with splendor at the People's Theatre on Wednesday to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the State Merited Chorus in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on February 23, 2017. KCNA/via REUTERS 
  
 The North’s state-run KCNA news agency did not refer directly to China by name but in an unmistakable censure it accused a “neighboring country” of going along with North Korea’s enemies to “bring down its social system”. 
  
 “This country, styling itself a big power, is dancing to the tune of the U.S. while defending its mean behavior with such excuses that it was meant not to have a negative impact on the living of the people in the DPRK but to check its nuclear program,” KCNA said in a commentary. 
  
 China said on Saturday it would ban coal imports from North Korea, which is officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), until the end of the year. 
  
 The ban came about a week after North Korea tested an intermediate-range ballistic missile in its first direct challenge to the international community since U.S. President Donald Trump took office. 
  
 Trump’s administration has said China should do more to put pressure on North Korea. 
  
 “A neighboring country, which often claims itself to be a ‘friendly neighbor’, is .. threatening that ‘the DPRK will suffer the biggest loss’,” KCNA said in the commentary. 
  
 “It has unhesitatingly taken inhumane steps such as totally blocking foreign trade related to the improvement of people’s living standard under the plea of the U.N. ‘resolutions on sanctions’ devoid of legal ground.” 
  
 China is North Korea’s sole major ally but it disapproves of its nuclear program and has backed U.N. sanctions against it. China calls for the Korean peninsula to be free of nuclear weapons. 
  
 North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests, including two last year, although its claims to be able to miniaturize a nuclear weapon to be mounted on a missile have never been verified independently. 
  
 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in a New Year speech the North was close to test-launching an intercontinental ballistic missile. State media has said such a launch could come at any time. 
  
 A fully developed ICBM could threaten the continental United States, which is about 9,000 km (5,500 miles) from North Korea. 
  
 North Korea was China’s fourth biggest supplier of coal last year, with non-lignite imports reaching 22.48 million tonnes, up 14.5 percent compared with 2015. ||||| TOKYO (AP) — North Korea's state-run news agency issued a tough critique of China on Thursday, suggesting Beijing's criticism of the North's recent missile test and suspension of imports of North Korean coal are tantamount to the actions of an enemy state "dancing to the tune of the U.S." 
  
 The article took a tone normally reserved for North Korea's overt enemies — Washington, Tokyo and Seoul. 
  
 Without directly using China's name, but referring to it as "a neighboring country, which often claims itself to be a 'friendly neighbor,'" the Korean Central News Agency report accused Beijing of essentially abandoning North Korea in favor of the United States by cutting off imports of coal in compliance with United Nations sanctions. 
  
 "This country, styling itself a big power, is dancing to the tune of the U.S. while defending its mean behavior with such excuses that it (the suspension of coal imports) was meant not to have a negative impact on the living of the people in the DPRK but to check its nuclear program," it said. DPRK is short for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. 
  
 It added that China has "unhesitatingly taken inhumane steps" to comply with U.N. sanctions. 
  
 The article, uncharacteristically for the news agency, carried a byline, Jong Phil. 
  
 China on Sunday began a suspension of all coal imports from North Korea for the rest of the year as it increases pressure on it in line with U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed in November in response to the North's fifth nuclear test two months earlier. 
  
 China had already banned coal imports from North Korea in April last year, but those restrictions allowed some imports for civilian use. China is North Korea's largest source of trade and aid and the suspension will deprive the North of an important source of foreign currency. 
  
 North Korean coal exports to China totaled $1.2 billion last year, according to Chinese customs statistics. U.S. officials say that represents about one third of North Korea's total export income. 
  
 Beijing has come under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to lean harder on North Korea, but says its influence is limited. 
  
 It has, however, also grown increasingly frustrated with North Korea's defiance of U.N. demands it end missile tests and development of nuclear weapons. |||||
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assistant: – It's not just North Korea's relationship with Malaysia that may be splintering. In a rare move Thursday, the country appeared to accuse ally China of working with North Korea's enemies to "bring down its social system," reports Reuters. An editorial published by the state-controlled KCNA—with the byline "Jong Phil"—explained a country that "often claims itself to be a 'friendly neighbor'" has "unhesitatingly taken inhumane steps such as totally blocking foreign trade" under UN sanctions, reports the Wall Street Journal. This is "mean behavior," the editorial said. "This country, styling itself a big power, is dancing to the tune of the US." Despite the fact that the editorial didn't name China, an expert on China-North Korea relations says it's a rare "frontal assault" on its ally. The AP notes it "took a tone normally reserved for North Korea's overt enemies." The editorial has been widely viewed as a response to China's announcement Saturday that it would block all coal imports from North Korea according to tightened UN sanctions, which the editorial claimed are "devoid of legal ground" and will "have a negative impact on the living of the people in the DPRK." US officials say coal exports to China earned North Korea $1.2 billion last year, roughly one third of its total export income, the AP reports.