Posted on 10/15/2004 3:50:56 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
China sends more troops to N. Korea border
WASHINGTON - China has dispatched thousands of additional soldiers to its border region with North Korea, prompting an alert among intelligence officials in South Korea and the United States, says a diplomatic source here.
'Based on the US satellite photos and South Korea's human intelligence, the two countries concluded that China has recently deployed 10,000 elite troops to the North Korean border,' the source in Washington was quoted by South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo as saying yesterday.
Last Saturday, Japan's Sankei Shimbun newspaper also reported that China had sent 10,000 troops earlier this month to three border areas along the Tumen River, running between China and North Korea.
The Washington source said: 'China already has two divisions of troops guarding the border. Seoul and Washington are now analysing why China had to send another division of its best-trained troops to the area.'
China reportedly already has some 150,000 People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops stationed along its 1,400km border with North Korea, with which it signed a Border Cooperation Agreement in June.
In response, Beijing confirmed on Tuesday that it had deployed troops to the border, but denied media speculation that the move was aimed at stopping North Koreans from defecting or in protest against Pyongyang's continuing nuclear arms development.
In a related development, two North Korean refugees, including the wife of an economic official, were to fly to the US yesterday to seek political asylum, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.
Ms Chang Sun Young, the wife of a senior state-run trading company official, and Mr Chung Sung Il, are to arrive in the US via Japan and Germany, Yonhap said.
Ms Chang has information regarding the family tree of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, it said.
The two would be the first North Koreans to apply for political asylum in the US after the US Senate approved a Bill last month pressuring North Korea to improve its human rights conditions.
Don't let them fool you,, China, and North Korea's boss are chum chum buddys.
China is the premier destination for people trying to get out of North Korea.
Which should tell you a bunch about how bad North Korea actually is, that China seems so great by comparison.
As regards Chia Dictator's sanity?
He's a full-goose bozo whack-job.
And he either has nukes or is trying to finish making them.
China ( and every one else in the area0 has plenty of reason to worry about L'il Kim.
Perhaps China is trying to protect it's emerging "middle class" from the same sort of devestation that the American middles class has seen.
I imagine a hop across the border for food and high wage jobs is getting pretty attractive to some of those starving masses right about now.
Good point there, Thanks!
That certainly accords with what I see: they are allies, with a strong treaty that neither has made any mention of revisiting that I have seen. There are delegations going back and forth; Kim Jong-Il himself went for a nice visit in April, and another delegation is sallying forth soon:
DPRK Delegation to Pay Official Goodwill Visit to China
Pyongyang, October 12 (KCNA) -- The delegation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea led by Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, will soon pay an official goodwill visit to the People's Republic of China (PRC) at the invitation of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the State Council of the PRC.
It is my belief that you wouldn't see such going on if there were overt hostilities about to begin. Apparently, Prime Minister Koizumi from Japan is not welcome in the PRC merely because of his visits to Yasukuni. I would assume that if China were truly upset with its lackey state, it would also make it apparent to them via the cold shoulder.
For that matter, Kim was in Beijing just in April. If they wanted to terminate his leadership, they could have just taken him at that time. It certainly would have meant less effort than a full-scale assault across the border a few months later.
My guess is that Kim's satrapy is in no danger from China.
Hmm, you know.. The South Park movie had Hussein as the bad guy, and we know how he ended up. Now they got Kim as the baddie in their new one..
Funny if that works out again.
The Chinese can roll over the N.K. soldiers any time they want. I can't imagine the U.S. is going to do much about it, except warn the Chinese about staying out of S. Korea. At this point, it's almost a humanitarian act.
History is full of chum chum buddies not exactly going through thick and thin :
- Chiang Kai-Shyek and Mao 1920-1929
- Hitler and Stalin, 1933-1941
- USSR and Red China, 1949-1961
- The Kennedys and the Maffia 1930-1962
- Jordan and the Palestinians 1948-1970
So we might witness another "happy couple" growing estranged... China needs some stability in the Northeastern front to pursue its southernly course, so I suppose they could play "liberators" to North Korea any time.
Kim is as mad a dog as History has ever seen, and when he'll begin to lose control on his famished population and anxious military, he could do ANYTHING, including launching nukes. We're not talking about Soviet chess players here - just about a stark raving mad guy. And China knows that.
I wonder which 'elite unit' they're talking about. Depending on the source, it could be a division of the 15th Airborne Army, it could be a number of the RRUs and support elements, or it might just be a slightly better equipped than average division of regular troops.
bump
I will let you know if I find anything.
China needs more sea ports....
What? What evidence do you have for this amazing statement?
What sort of container volume is available from N Korea ports? What inland transport routes are available from the ports into China?
Could you see the chinese supporting a military coup inside North Korea? If China moved troops into N. Korea do you think they would leave or do you think they would make a land grab?
It is distinctly possible that China may support a coup in N. Korea. Once Chinese are into N. Korea, they would take all their time to leave.
Under this scenario, I envision some sort of partition, in which the area north of Pyongyang-Wonsan line could go to China, while the rest could go to America/S.Korea. It would be like the partition of Germany after WWII.
China wants a buffer state against America. America may not want China to take over the whole N. Korea. This arrangement could be acceptable to both China and U.S..
This is one of the possibilities
China does a whole lot of business with South Korea. Nobody does business with North Korea. It is to China's advantage to take down that NK regime. I think they have gotten the green light from the U.S. to deal with it anyway they choose. I'd much rather have NK's nuclear arsenal in the hands of the Chinese than that nutjob running things in NK.
MI Ping
"your Pyongyang be ready tin minit"
Do you know that Kim Jong-il used to be a propaganda artist, an art director for state opera? I sometimes feel that he is living through his propaganda opera.
He goes in great length to project the image of a N. Korea exhorting and bearing down at its bigger neighbors, who are cowering under its feet.
Even when millions starved to death, economy is in a free fall, and they are begging/extorting food from outside donors, the twin doctrines of N. Korea are, "Kang-sung-dae-gook"(Strong prosperous great country) and "Sun-goon-jung-chi"(Military first policy.)
Eastern Manchuria does not have sea ports located nearby. If they can secure decent port(s) at N.E. end of N. Korea, it will greatly accelerate the development of that region.
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