China pushes North Korea to drop nuclear test plan

It looks like China maybe finally seeing what a nut case state North Korea is

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has been quietly and gently pressuring North Korea to scrap plans for a third nuclear test, said two sources with knowledge of closed-door discussions between the countries, but there is no indication how the North will react. If North Korea goes ahead with the test, China would consider taking some retaliatory steps, but they would not be substantive, a source with ties to Pyongyang and Beijing told Reuters.

See source for more info

reply to post by pillock


I'm not so sure that it's China finally seeing the light as far as North Korea goes. If you continue reading in the article it states:

"China is unhappy ... and urged North Korea not to conduct a nuclear test near Changbai Mountain," said the source, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

China feared a radiation leak and damage to the environment from a blast, the source added.

"China also complained about the environmental damage to the area after the first two tests."

When North Korea conducted nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, it caused environmental damage to the mountain straddling the border with China. North Korea ceded part of the mountain to China in 1963.

Source the same as OP's sourced article

What this tells me, is not that they are overly concerned that NK is planning to test again at all.. just they don't want it to be in their backyard, so to speak. If NK decided to test in another area not on the Chinese border, I doubt that this discussion would be happening at all.

As long as they don't test it on Souel.

Seriously, I don't think China really cares all that much, except they don't want it on there border.

Why don't they move the test towards the South Korean border?

Originally posted by USN1983
Why don't they move the test towards the South Korean border?

That seems more likelly to happen than we may think...