The official newspaper of North Korea’s ruling party has strongly denounced remarks President Moon Jae-in made in Singapore last week in an apparent show of its growing discontentment with the slow development of inter-Korean ties. 

The Rodong Sinmun on Friday claimed that key inter-Korean issues are being left unaddressed indefinitely with South Korea being only mindful of the U.S. 

In particular, the paper took issue with Moon’s remark issued at a lecture in Singapore last Friday that if the leaders of the U.S. and North Korea fail to fulfill promises to each other, they would face stern judgment from the international community. The paper, however, stopped short of mentioning the South Korean president by name. 

The North’s strong rhetoric is seen to be reflective of its concerns about the advancement of inter-Korean ties and its desire for Seoul to take on a more flexible and proactive stance in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. 

Pyongyang is looking for a change in Seoul’s stance as inter-Korean economic cooperation projects agreed under the Panmunjeom Declaration cannot move forward with international sanctions on the North remaining in place until progress is made in denuclearization.