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| leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un |
By Kerry Brown
The U.S. and China need to act to solve the North Korea problem — before it’s too late.
It’s bad enough that South Korean intelligence alleged in early May that the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, had ordered the execution of his recently appointed minister of defense. Satellite evidence that this execution might have been carried out by anti-aircraft guns added a horribly macabre twist.
Of course, nothing has been verified as yet. Claims that Kim’s uncle-in-law Jang Song-thaek had been torn apart by dogs ended up being revealed as fantasies cooked up online. Even so, like nature, news abhors a vacuum, and fills information gaps with speculation. If the DPRK has nothing to hide, why all the secrecy?
In the past, Hu Jintao would sporadically burst into uncharacteristic moments of lyricism when talking of China’s allies across the northeast border. In 2006, he called their revolutionary achievements “delightful.” But President Xi Jinping, who on the whole speaks far more effusively of foreign friends (at least to their faces), has remained strangely tight-lipped about one of China’s sole remaining Communist allies. When a Chinese leader visits Fiji, Pakistan, and Tasmania before setting foot in the DPRK, something has gone badly wrong in the China-North Korea relationship.
Read the full story at The Diplomat