China puts it out there
China: N. Korea doesn’t plan second nuke test
China gave its first full public account Tuesday of its recent diplomatic mission to North Korea. An official said leader Kim Jong Il did not apologize for the atomic explosion, but he did say there were no plans for a second nuclear test.
North Korea’s reclusive leader expressed willingness to return to six-nation talks over his government’s nuclear program if financial restrictions levied by the United States are first resolved, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.
Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan met with Kim last week during a trip to Pyongyang with China’s top nuclear envoy and vice foreign minister.
Tang was told during meetings with Kim and other officials that North Korea has no plans to carry out a second nuclear test, Liu said. “But if it faces pressure, North Korea reserves the right to take further actions,” he added, citing Tang.
In the long term, the Korean peninsula is located in what used to be quaintly called the “sphere of influence” of China. Today’s China is at least as capitalist as we are. China doesn’t want to bury us, except perhaps under a mountain of exported consumer goods. Nor does China want the Norks to set off nukes on South Korea or Japan.
This probably is not an arrangement suitable for public pronouncements, but we should be telling the Chinese, “You know the Korean War? Well, you just won. Kim Jong-Il is now your problem.”
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