China's policy and influence on the North Korea nuclear issue: denuclearization and/or stabilization of the Korean peninsula?

Abstract

Abstract China is the largest trading partner of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and also provides considerable economic aid. Thus, China is said to have very strong economic leverage over North Korea. China's goal in its North Korea policy is to secure political and economic stability in the region peripheral to China by using such economic leverage. To achieve this goal, China is expected to approach the North Korea nuclear issue with a more comprehensive and longer-term viewpoint. China seeks to stably manage the North Korea nuclear issue by utilizing its economic leverage over North Korea in the short- to medium-term. China thinks that such management, through the Six-Party Talks, is the most appropriate solution to the North Korea nuclear issue as far as China is concerned. In the long term, China seeks to transplant its reform and open-door model into North Korea and to structurally soft-land North Korea as a China-friendly regime in the region that adjoins the northeastern border o...