WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- China's new leadership is expected to deal with North Korea in a more aggressive manner, abandoning a "kid-glove" approach, experts said Thursday.
But Beijing will continue to "reluctantly tolerate" Pyongyang's long-range rocket launch program, which the North claims to be part of peaceful space initiative, according to Adam Cathcart, a history lecturer at Queen's University in Northern Ireland.
His views are in an article on the prospects for China-North Korea relations distributed by the Pacific Forum CSIS, affiliated with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The co-authors are Nathan Beauchamp-Mustafaga, a researcher at Peking University, and Roger Cavazos, a non-resident associate at the Nautilus Institute.
"China will reluctantly tolerate space rockets even though these launches enrage regional rivals, and will likely tolerate small arms and weapons development within limits," they said. "It's in China's interest to keep the Korean People's Army on its feet."
North Korea conducted a successful launch of a long-range rocket earlier this month. The U.S. viewed it as a test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
The U.S. and its allies are pushing for tough U.N. sanctions, but China, a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council, has been apparently uncooperative.
Diplomatic sources said no concrete deal on how to punish Pyongyang is likely by the end of the year. Many U.N. diplomats are on year-end vacations.
The experts, however, said China is unlikely to blindly take the side with North Korea, especially given the new line-up of China's powerful Politburo.
When President Hu Jintao was at the helm from 2002 to 2012, the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), a decision-making organ on key foreign policy, lacked members with direct experience with North Korea, they pointed out.
That is not the case with the newly formed PSC, whose seven members include Zhang Dejiang and Li Keqiang, they said.
In particular, Zhang is known for his expertise in North Korean affairs. He attended Yanbian University, where he studied the Korean language, and also received a degree in economics from Kim Il-sung University in North Korea.
His connections to North Korea and his handling of illegal immigration from the neighboring country as a local official in a border province are believed to be key factors in his rise to power.
Sun Zhengcai, Communist Party boss of Jilin province, right next to North Korea, also joined the 25-member Politburo.
"These officials spent formative years in close proximity to North Korea, and benefited from their time in local governments with long-term cross-border interactions with North Korean counterparts," said the experts.
"They appreciate that patience and constant pressure are key to promoting reform in Pyongyang," they added. "This new generation of leaders is ostensibly better informed on North Korea issues and may lead to some policy nuance -- if not policy changes -- from China."
The new-generation Chinese leaders are apparently "tired of being pricked by North Korea."
"As a result, they are letting the DPRK (North Korea) know directly and indirectly that the 'kid glove only' treatment of the previous PSC may be coming to an end," the experts said.