North Korean state media lambastes key ally China for 'dancing to tune of U.S.'

North Korean state-run media on Thursday served up a scathing critique of China over its recent rebuke of Pyongyang's first missile test of the year and Beijing's decision to halt imports of coal from the hermit nation, saying the moves showed China "is dancing to the tune of the U.S."

Without naming Beijing, the report by the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) ripped into "a neighboring country," an allusion to China, claiming that its "recent measures are, in effect, tantamount to the enemies' moves to bring down the social system in the DPRK." The DPRK is an acronym for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.

Authorities in Beijing announced Saturday that China would halt all shipments of coal from the North until the end of the year, noting that the decision was made to "comply" with United Nations sanctions that China played a key role in drafting and passing last November.