Comments on: Kim Jong-il bitches about shifty Chinese

By: snow

snow — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 17:38:24 +0000

I hope KJI gets more mouthy against the Chinese. I’m sure Hu would love to give the fat dwarf a long deserved ‘bitch slapping’.

By: yankeesfan_77

yankeesfan_77 — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 04:48:02 +0000

Didn’t know KJI was a switch hitter. They must be keeping that on the down low

By: kushibo

kushibo — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 01:06:45 +0000

Is everyone forgetting that this is NOT the first time Kim Jong-il has tossed up a trial balloon for switching camps?

By: yankeesfan_77

yankeesfan_77 — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 01:01:37 +0000

1. I am leaning towards the KJI quote to an American is disinformation.

2. All news coming from China / nK seems to indicate that nK has moved closer into China’s sphere of influence.

3. That being said, north Korea is probably viwed as a necessary evil in terms of long term Chinese goals. China gets greater influence over 35% of the future population of a reunified Korea, but nKs actions provide the US reason for continued engagement in the region.

The real question is what does China feel about Japan and is the trouble north Korea causes worth the risks? Japanese rearmament, obstensibly in response to the north Korean threat, may spur an arms race and in the long term be seen as an obstacle against Chinese regional hegemony. However, it will also move countries in the region (like Korea) closer to China.

By: baduk

baduk — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 00:31:17 +0000

3 to 4 people run China. KJI runs NK. General public in both countries and news agencies have no idea how these powerful people think.

KJI, I am sure, is in daily private communication with China’s politicians (his masters). What they say in public are garbages and disinformation.

Think the opposite of what they say in newspapers.

By: Sonagi

Sonagi — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 00:24:47 +0000

Judging from the photo of Kim in the JoongAng piece, looks like he’s had some work done.

By: Sonagi

Sonagi — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 21:27:22 +0000

Disagree with Baduk’s take. There probably is real discord between the Chinese and the North Koreans although we will never see a break like the one between China and the Soviet Union since “juche” North Korea could not survive without Chinese imports.

By: Sonagi

Sonagi — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 21:22:57 +0000

Grayhat,

Kim wasn’t telling the American anything he hadn’t already told the Chinese, it seems, from this sentence in the report, which says that Kim communicated clearly his dissatisfaction with China to visiting high ranking Chinese officials:

중국에 대한 김 위원장의 불만은 우다웨이(武大偉) 중국 외교부 부부장과 후이량위(回良玉) 국무원 부총리의 10일 평양 방문에서 분명하게 표시됐다

Kim is making sure Beijing knows that its options of chastizing Pyongyang will not be tolerated.

I’ll bet Hu hasn’t had a restful night since he learned that Kim thinks the Chinese aren’t trustworthy. Kim’s verbal tantrums are no match for Chinese pragmatism.

By: Curzon

Curzon — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 19:27:56 +0000

Baduk has a very valid point. China has made a minor deviation from its typical quiet defense of North Korea in the international arena. The result has been that the DPRK is excoriating them. And by publicizing this to third parties, Kim is making sure Beijing knows that its options of chastizing Pyongyang will not be tolerated.

By: Gray Hat

Gray Hat — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 18:52:53 +0000

This is fascinating, but naturally it invites questions. Who could the “visiting American dignitary” have been to whom Kim, of all people, would have entrusted his private thoughts? And if any American did enjoy such access, would he be likely to blab so quickly? Whence came the astonishing information that Kim refused to meet with his high-ranking Chinese visitors?

Does it not seem plausible that this report was disinformation calculated to exacerbate PRC-NK tensions? A glimpse into a hall of mirrors…