TMH's R. Elgin and Occidentalism's Matt both point out the hypocrisy of the DPRK Foreign Ministry's condemnation of Japan's crackdown of Chongryon, a dodgy group representing ethnic Koreans in Japan.

The North's harsh rhetoric came amid a Japanese crackdown on illegal trade with North Korea, following the communist regime's missile launches in July and its nuclear test in October.  In August, Japanese police arrested a pro-North Korean resident in Japan for allegedly exporting machinery to the North that could be used to make biological weapons. The North's Foreign Ministry accused Abe of seeking to destroy Chongryon for political gain.  "It is nothing but a daydream to try to gratify his political greed in such a mean way," the statement said.  North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has recently ordered officials to seize all Japanese-made cars in the country, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing an unnamed source on North Korean affairs. Japan, also at odds with North Korea over its past abductions of Japanese citizens, refused to join other nations in providing energy aid to the North at recent talks on ending its nuclear weapons program.

This is probably the first cut in what could be a very tedious process by which both Pyongyang and Tokyo wear each other down.  Pyongyang probably scripted the outburst in response to Tokyo's diplomatic slap against aiding the North Koreans.  If Tokyo thought its announcements were clear enough, Beijing isn't going to take Tokyo at face value, either.