[imText1]Recently, Kim Jong Il’s ‘pro-China’ walking is getting faster.
Greeting this Lunar New Year’s Day, Kim Jong Il invited and enjoyed art performances and a dazzling dinner with Wu Donghe, the current Chinese ambassador in North Korea, its staffs, and workers at the Daeanchinsun glass factory. The North-China relationship appeared like a mostly recouped cooperative alliance, shacking off the remains of the Deng Xiaoping period.
What a reporter thought oddly of, staying in South Korea was that most did not know the fact the North-China relationship had not been that good in the past.
The two countries had once maintained a traditionally ‘deep, close interest relation’ and ‘blood alliance’ for half a century. However, the two did not walk a level road. The Chinese policy ‘the right results always come from facts’ had caused a conflict between the two. That is, the Chinese reformation and liberalization policy and the Korea-China diplomatic friendship had bred a discord.
Undervalued Reformation and Liberalization as Revisionism and ‘Selfish Nationalism’
Until the late 70’s, the two had resolved international issues with East-West diplomacy. However, in the 80’s, the Chinese reformation and liberalization worked as a turning point to alienate the relationship of the two countries.
As soon as China pursued reformation and liberalization, North Korea shunned it. Afterwards, North Korea strongly advocated ‘self-reliance and struggle for strength’, maintaining its own socialism. From this time, the relationship between the two was transformed from a hierarchical blood alliance into a symbolic alliance, which could be changed according to their interests.
North Korea undervalued the Chinese reformation and liberalization as revisionism and ‘selfish nationalism’ which betrayed so-called proletarian dictatorship. Yet, it did not criticize China as it had blamed the former Soviet Union and the East European socialist countries. It was because North Korea perceived that the destructive Chinese issue would cause self-collapse, as in the situation where China declared socialism of the Communist Party system and North Korea confronted the Korea-U.S alliance.
In the case that the North-China relationship completely beaks off, Kim Jong Il would have to prepare for his system collapse. China was a ‘hot potato’ that Kim Jong Il could not put down. He wished to, though.
After the Korea-China Diplomatic Friendship Formed, the North-China Relationship Became More Alienated
In August 1992, the formation of the Korea-China diplomatic friendship raised tension in North Korea. The National Security Agency in North Korea warned that “the Soviet Union had collapsed and the neighboring country (China) had also made friends with South Korea. So we are the only socialist country on the earth.”
Internal documents in the agency allegedly claimed that “90 percent of the South Korean companies in the neighboring country (China) came from the National Security Agency of South Korea,” adding that, “the Chinese, blinded by money, implicitly permitted it.” The National Security Agency established a border Security department and arranged monitoring and controlling hands.
North Korea spread a rumor undermining trust in Chinese products in order to call the attention away from the North Koreans to the Chinese reformation and liberalization. The North Koreans who once visited China envied that “China allocates lands to famers and does not do a weekly gathering (Chonghwa).”
The North Korean administration limited visits from China and executed people related to China, accusing of ‘No. 40 dog’ (National Security Agency’s reference to Chinese spies). It was the very time when North Korea cracked down Chinese video tapes and records, claiming to ‘obstruct yellow wind of capitalism’.
Until the Kim Jong Il’s second visit in 2000, after the first visit in 1983, the two countries had never mutually visited, just handing New-Year greeting cards to Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin. Even when Deng Xiaoping died in 1997, he did not present his condolences to the Chinese embassy at Pyeongyang. It was an event that clearly revealed the estranged relationship between the two.
The Reason Kim Jong Il Cannot Let Go of China
Upon the start of Chinese reformation and liberalization, North Korea predicted that China would be divided into 56 ethical tribes very soon. However, China has fulfilled the reformation and liberalization without even one setback.
Particularly, achieving economic growth while maintaining the Communist Party system looked marvelous to Kim Jong Il, who could not even boldly try reformation and liberalization without being anxious about his system collapsing.
In March 2000, Kim Jong Il visited and got some advice from China about the North-South Summit soon to be held, as well as whenever the South-North relations and the North-U.S relations issues were presented in 2001, 2004 and 2006. Some said he visited China to take some lessons of reformation and liberalization. However, in fact, he did not have any economic mind to lead reformation and liberalization.
So, we can only construe that under the perception that the only way to be free from the economic sanctions of the U.S. and international isolation was China, he had intentions to prepare for a breakthrough by more active diplomatic and economic cooperation with China.
The main purpose of the current North Korean foreign policy is that by advancing the cooperative and close relationship with China, North Korea confronts the U.S. policy towards North Korea and the East Asian strategy.
