The attention levied to the North Korean nuclear test and its timing has primarily been focused on its meaning for U.S.-North Korea relations (such as they are) in the Obama administration, and, secondarily, on their impact in hardening South Korean public opinion already reeling from the suicide of the recent president Noh Moo Hyun.
But in many ways the biggest potential change that arises from the newly stringent North Korean attitude has to do with that country’s relationship with China.
China has been rather firm in its public statements. But what other factors would cause China to rethink its relationship with the North? While refugees are often given as an answer, and are tremendously important, we should not overlook the idea (not the implemtation, just the idea) of North Korea as an actual military danger to China. One aspect of such a series of questions that needs to be posed also includes the role of local and regional players on both sides in shaping and criticizing policy.
And thanks to a real rarity — some actual reporting from the quake zone — we have a chance to gague in a new way the unrest caused in the Chinese border regions by the recent North Korean nuclear episode:
Danwei, drawing from dispatches from Yanji via Changchun, alerts us that the North Korean nuclear testing program is now directly endangering the seismic sanctity of the Yanbian region of the PRC.
The full Chinese text of the relevant article is provided below; I anticipate having a translation of this up and into English soon.
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The North Korea Economy Watch did a round up of news reports on the latest Chinese reactions to the nuke test:
http://www.nkeconwatch.com/2009/06/02/china-send-soft-signal-to-dprk/