North Korean Attitudes Toward China: A Historical View of Contemporary Difficulties

Amid ongoing concerns over North Korea's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, China and North Korea are celebrating the "Year of Sino-DPRK Friendship," commemorating the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. Despite recent strains in the relationship in the wake of North Korea's 2006 nuclear test, most observers believe that China, as the DPRK's largest trading partner and main source of food and fuel aid, still enjoys more leverage over Pyongyang than any other nation. While the two countries do have a long historical relationship -- it was China that intervened and bailed out North Korea in 1950 -- there have been serious challenges to the "lips and teeth" alliance throughout the past six decades. As newly obtained documents from the archives of North Korea's former communist allies suggest, the alliance could best be described as uneasy, testing our understanding of Sino-DPRK solidarity. Based on these new materials, panelists Jin Linbo, John Park, James Person, and Bernd Schaefer will examine the history of the alliance and its limits; instances when Beijing attempted to use its leverage to influence North Korean political, economic, and military decisions; and North Korea's likely response to contemporary Chinese efforts to effect denuclearization on the peninsula.

Speakers

• Jin Linbo
  Visiting Fellow, Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies, The Brookings Institution
• John S. Park
  Senior Research Associate (Northeast Asia), Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention, U.S. Institute of Peace
• James F. Person
  Coordinator, North Korea International Documentation Project, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
• Ambassador J. Stapleton Roy
  Director, Kissinger Institute on China and the United States, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
• Bernd Schaefer
  Senior Scholar, Cold War International History Project, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
• Ambassador Richard Solomon
  President, U.S. Institute of Peace