China in a delicate position regarding future of longtime ally North Korea – Jim Landers

From the Dallas Morning News, via Miami.com:

From the U.S. perspective, the alternatives are truly awful. A war to disarm North Korea could see Seoul, South Korea’s capital, destroyed by North Korean artillery. Do nothing, and North Korea might soon be armed with nuclear-tipped intercontinental missiles capable of reaching the United States, or become a nuclear supermarket open to terrorists.

“Only one country can back them down, and that’s China,” said former CIA Director Jim Woolsey.

But Beijing shows no sign yet of coercing North Korea to quit pursuing nuclear weapons, despite North Korea’s defiant Feb. 10 declaration that it has a nuclear arsenal.

China says it shares the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons but disagrees over the approach.

Technorati Tags: China, North Korea