China May Have Played Role In North Korean Political Decision to Stop 5th Nuclear Test
It would seem to me that of all the provocations that the North Koreans do, the nuclear tests are probably the ones that most concern the Chinese considering how close they are occurring to their border. It seems for now they may have been able to convince the Kim regime to delay their fifth nuclear test:
China reportedly speculates that an internal political assessment led to North Korea’s decision not to conduct a nuclear test around the time of its ruling party congress held early this month.
According to a senior South Korean government official stationed in China who spoke to reporters in Beijing on Thursday, China urged North Korea to refrain from carrying out its fifth nuclear test. The source quoted a senior Chinese official but added that it can’t be concluded that Pyongyang stopped short of a test just because of China’s request.
The official said that Beijing believes the North must have politically evaluated that a nuclear test will be a minus to the party congress. [KBS World Radio]
You can read more at the link.
China has been telling them for a long time to back off from the nuke tests. I don’t think another (obligatory) request made a difference. There must be another motive at play here. Perhaps KJU is finally starting to feel the squeeze from the UN sanctions that kicked in in early March?
Given how long Chinese politics have had some sort of influence over the whole Korean Peninsula, someone probably mentioned there were other sons of the Kim Family and how easy it was to catch the Pyongyang version of the Moscow Flu.
@Guitard, I would not be surprised if the Chinese threatened to cut the fuel supplies they continue to ship into North Korea despite the sanctions if they went ahead with the test.