By Kang Hyun-kyung
The dynastic leadership succession in North Korea has drawn a cynical reaction from the Chinese as they described the power transfer as a reality show, a chairman of a presidential council said Thursday.
The remarks over growing North Korea fatigue among Chinese people coincided with Seoul’s plan to step up efforts with Washington to discuss ways to handle Pyongyang's uranium enrichment program at the U.N. Security Council (UNSC).
The two sides agreed to ratchet up pressure on China, a decades-long benefactor of North Korea and veto-wielding UNSC permanent member, to join in the international effort to rein in the reclusive nation.
In a speech at an East Asia forum held on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Kwak Seung-jun, chairman of the Presidential Council for Future and Vision, noted unlike senior citizens, China’s younger generation displays little interest in North Korea.
“Like other governments, China feels uncomfortable about North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons … The Chinese believe the power transfer from Kim Jong-un’s grandfather (Kim Il-sung) to his father (Kim Jong-il) to him is a reality show,” he said.
“In addition, Chinese people’s cynicism about North Koreans are changing, too, thanks to telecommunications technology.”
North Korean defectors have testified that a considerable proportion of North Koreans secretly tune in to radio broadcasts at night to listen to unedited stories transmitted from outside the Hermit Kingdom. Some of them even watch South Korean TV dramas on DVD at home.
Those living in the North Korea-Chinese border area communicate with people outside the North through mobile phones.
Kwak said North Korea fatigue among Chinese people and North Koreans’ awareness of the outside world would make it hard for China to continue to support the North in the future they way it did in the past.
His remarks sparked speculation whether growing North Korea fatigue among Chinese can finally lead the Chinese government to take a common step with the Seoul-Washington alliance at the UNSC with regard to the North’s uranium program.
North Korea unveiled the new uranium centrifuge plant that can produce thousands of centrifuges to a visiting U.S. scientist last year. Although the North claimed the new facility was for producing electricity, nuclear scientists worried that North Koreans could develop it further to produce nuclear bombs.
China remained silent over the North’s uranium program for a while. But there was an alleged shift in its stance on the uranium program when Chinese President Hu Jintao met U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington last week.
In the joint statement released after the Obama-Hu summit, the two leaders expressed concerns over the North’s uranium program. Seoul officials called it progress, considering that China had not publicly criticized the North over the uranium program.
Despite the “progress” made in the U.S.-China summit, experts said it remains to be seen whether China will cooperate with South Korea and the United States at the UNSC to produce a joint international step to rein in North Korea over the uranium program.
China prioritized stability on the Korean Peninsula, fearing instability between two Koreas could distract China from focusing on rapid growth. This, analysts said, was behind China’s consistent support of North Korea.
