Angered by ‘suicidal’ Abe, North Korea warns of ‘nuclear clouds’ over Japan

North Korea’s official media has decried Japan’s call for pressuring Pyongyang into giving up its nuclear and missile programmes, calling its neighbour’s tactic a “suicidal deed” that will bring “nuclear clouds” to the country.

A commentary released by the North’s Korean Central News Agency on Monday framed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s recent call for pressure, not dialogue, to make Pyongyang change its behaviour as a ploy to attain his political aims.

“Japan’s such rackets inciting the tension of the Korean peninsula is a suicidal deed that will bring nuclear clouds to the Japanese archipelago,” it said.

“No one knows when the touch-and-go situation will lead to a nuclear war, but if so, the Japanese archipelago will be engulfed in flames in a moment. This is too self-evident,” the commentary added.

In his address at the UN General Assembly last month, Abe urged all UN member states to block North Korea’s access to “the goods, funds, people and technology” necessary for its weapons programmes.