North Korean state media denounced a speech by Japan’s prime minister at Hiroshima as an attempt to disguise Japan as a “nuclear victim,” claiming Tokyo seeks nuclear weapons to justify the DPRK’s own weapons of mass destruction.

The commentary was part of a series of articles published in advance of the DPRK’s Independence Day on Thursday, seeking to stir up anti-Japanese sentiment and deify Kim Il Sung as a liberator ahead of the holiday celebrating the end of Japanese colonial rule.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced a new ambassador to Cuba