North Korea has denounced President Lee Jae Myung’s recent summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba as a “diplomatic show,” suggesting Lee is overeager to demonstrate a pro-Japanese stance because he is anxious about how Washington perceives him.

The North’s state Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) issued the criticism on Monday in a commentary by a North Korean individual.

Pointing out that Lee broke from tradition by visiting Japan before the U.S., the KCNA commentary said this appears to reflect Lee’s “worries as a servant of the U.S.,” since Washington distrusts the South Korean president on the basis of hard-line statements he made about Japan when he was leader of the opposition. 

The writer said that by visiting Japan first, Lee was sending a “begging message” to the U.S. to dispel its doubts about his commitment to South Korea-Japan relations, which the writer called an axle of trilateral military cooperation for the three countries.

Referring to Lee as despicable and confrontational, the KCNA commentary said the president’s excessive efforts to prove he is pro-Japan will only worsen the security crisis in the region.

The writer then warned that the North will never remain a passive onlooker to what he called the worrying situation being created by the U.S. and its followers seeking hegemony.