North Korea may bring the date of a planned nuclear test forward after a contentious remark by China's UN ambassador angered generals in the reclusive country, a source with close ties to Pyongyang said on Sunday.
US envoy John Bolton said last week that while Britain, France and Japan had made clear a strong statement was needed to warn Pyongyang against testing, he was not certain "what North Korea's protectors on the (UN Security) Council are going to do".
In response, Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya said: "I'm not sure which country he is referring to, but I think that for bad behaviour in this world no one is going to protect them."
Wang's remark riled North Korean generals who bristled at the notion of needing China's protection and urged their leader, Kim Jong-il, to bring the test date forward, said the source who requested anonymity.
"North Korea is especially unhappy with China," the source told Reuters after speaking with senior North Korean officials.
"This is chauvinism. North Korea does not need Chinese protection. North Korea is no longer a dependency," the source cited the North Koreans as saying.
Korea was a Chinese protectorate for several centuries until Japan seized it as a colony in 1910.
Pyongyang's nuclear test could now come as early as this week, the source said. A second source with ties to the Chinese leadership said Beijing was alarmed that the chosen test site, deep inside an old coal mine in the north of the country, was just a few hundred kilometres (miles) from the Chinese border.
"It could have grave consequences on the environment in north-east China," said the source who asked not to be identified.
China's relations with North Korea were long characterised as being "as close as lips and teeth" after they fought side-by-side during the 1950-53 Korean War. China is a major aid donor but bilateral ties soured in recent months with Pyongyang complaining that Beijing was failing to champion its interests.
Comments
Comments are closed.