Abraham Lincoln: North Korea accuses Barack Obama of nuclear hypocrisy in 'open letter from 16th US president'

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Hypocrisy. That is the theme of a letter “sent” to Barack Obama from former president Abraham Lincoln, and offering some advice on dealing with the issue of nuclear proliferation, and in particular North Korea.

“If the United States, a country with the world’s largest nuclear weapons stockpile, only pays lip service, like a parrot, and doesn’t do anything actively, it will be a mockery to the entire world,” says the letter.

The advice to Mr Obama was penned by DPRK Today, and its the latest in a series of accusations leveled by North Korean state media at Mr Obama. Some of the previous comments have included racist abuse.

The letter published on Tuesday offers some advice to Mr Obama, purportedly from the country’s 16th president. It is the latest response from the North to rising animosity with Washington following Pyongyang’s nuclear test and long-range rocket launch earlier this year, the Associated Press said.

“Hey, Obama, it’s the 21st Century,” the letter continues.

“The tactic by past American presidents, including me, who deceived the people…is outdated. That doesn’t work now. The world doesn't trust an America that doesn’t take responsibility for what it says.”

Lincoln, who served in office for four years until his assassination in 1865, appears to deride Mr Obama’s claim to want to build a nuclear-free world by questioning why the US has not taken the initiative to scale back its own vast, nuclear arsenal.

It is the latest response from the North to rising animosity with Washington following Pyongyang's nuclear test and long-range rocket launch earlier this year.

“Hey, Obama,” it begins. “I know you have a lot on your mind these days ... I've decided to give you a little advice after seeing you lost in thought before my portrait during a recent Easter Prayer Breakfast.”

In 2014, the North's state news agency, KCNA, called Mr Obama a “monkey”. Earlier that year, it called Secretary of State John Kerry a wolf with a “hideous lantern jaw” after US and South Korean troops launched summertime drills.

The North has also called South Korean President Park Geun-hye a “prostitute” numerous times. The US has referred to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un’s as a “young dictator”.