Only a month ago North Korea created a stir when they claimed to have tested a hydrogen bomb. Most Western sources acknowledged that it was by far the most powerful bomb that North Korea had exploded to date, but questioned whether it was a hydrogen bomb as claimed. Frankly I found it silly that "experts" were arguing back and forth as to whether it was indeed an "H" bomb or not. It was big, big enough to do a lot of damage! That is all that matters, that is the bottom line, or should be!
Most recently, North Korea launched a satellite which reportedly flew over the West Coast shortly after the Super Bowl ended. Everyone is pointing to the fact that apparently the satellite is out of orbit and currently tumbling out of control. Obviously the North Koreans haven't gotten their act together when it comes to satellite launching! However, everyone also acknowledges that launching a satellite was not their main goal! What they really wanted to do was to test launch an ICBM, an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile that was capable of carrying a nuclear payload. This latest missile definitely has the capability to carry a nuclear warhead! North Korea has ICBMs that can reach Seattle!
North Korea is by far the scariest, the most unpredictable and dangerous country in the world. Iran and some of the other anti-Western Islamic countries pale in comparison. It isn't that they lack the hatred for the West or are unwilling to risk their lives to try to kill "infidels." On the contrary, all you have to do is look around at the suicide bombers and other radicals launching attacks in the West to know that they are dangerous, and hatred and motivation is not lacking. But none of those countries, not even Iran, have the capability to do as much damage as North Korea. That is mainly because all of the Islamic countries are reliant on Western technology for developing their weapons or even having basic small arms like the ubiquitous AK-47! Only Egypt makes its own AK-47s, the rest of the Islamic countries are dependent on foreign made arms, mostly Eastern European and Chinese! Some of these Islamic countries are even incapable of producing their own ammunition, let alone small arms. North Korea, on the other hand, is completely self sufficient when it comes to arms and armament. It not only makes all its own small arms and ammunition, but also makes all of the heavy weaponry including nuclear bombs! In fact, North Korea became so accomplished in making missiles that they started selling them abroad as early as the 1980s! Saddam Hussein's scud missiles were all North Korean! Hamas uses North Korean "Katyusha" rockets to launch at Israeli positions!
Despite all the sanctions that have been placed on North Korea, they are still able to acquire needed material and technology for making their weapons. That is because they are getting everything they need through China! North Korea is able to purchase all their needs from China directly or even from the West by using straw buyers in China! North Korea has a huge number of trading companies in China, operating as Chinese companies that do business with Europe and the U.S. As far as the European or U.S. seller is concerned, they are selling their goods to a Chinese company for Chinese use. These companies are set up so cleverly that it would take tremendous effort to try to uncover their real ownership. They are Chinese companies, run by Chinese, registered as legal Chinese businesses. They are so well disguised that Western and U.S. intelligence have not even tried to uncover them....it would take just too much time and effort! Should their North Korean ownership be discovered, they would simply shut down and another one would pop up under a different name and ownership.
The Chinese government is well aware of this arrangement and is actively participating in this duplicitous international trading. China, of all the countries in the world, wants North Korea to remain a military threat in the region! This is an inexpensive way for China to keep South Korea and Japan distracted and divert their resources and attention from China's incursion into the region economically! This is a game that China has been playing historically for hundreds of years! In the past, the entire country of Korea was used as a buffer by the Chinese primarily against Japan. China lost that buffer after the first Sino-Japanese War when they turned Korea over to Japan. From 1910 when Japan officially colonized Korea until 1945 when Japan lost the war, for a half a century China had no control over Korea. But after the Korean War, since 1953, China has regained that control, at least for the northern half of the Korean peninsula.
For China, it is advantageous to have a belligerent, unpredictable ruler such as Kim Jong Un in North Korea. It is to their advantage to have Kim and his henchmen periodically rattle their missiles and nuclear bombs. It keeps South Korea and Japan on their toes. It keeps those two countries preoccupied with defense and spend more time and money on defensive built up. Japan has dramatically increased its spending on defense in the last several years, and South Korea has always spent a considerable portion of its GNP on defense! Japan and South Korea are the two biggest competitors for China on the global market. Without either Japan or South Korea around, China would be completely dominating the world economy! China is not concerned about the U.S., since we are its biggest customer and China's largest borrower. China holds just about all of our I.O.U.s, and most of our national debt today is to China!
The crazy Kim Jong Un and North Korea are a perfect set up for China, a perfect tool to keep Japan and South Korea distracted and worried. China is not concerned that North Korea will turn against it. That will never happen. Never in its entire recorded 4000 year history has Korea or a Korean kingdom gone to war against China, nor has China ever invaded Korea militarily. There was always an understanding, a vassal state relationship between a Chinese Dynasty and a Korean Dynasty. Only during the period of the great Korean Koguryo Empire did China feel some nervousness. Koguyro (37 BC - 668 AD) was a huge empire that included the northern half of the Korean peninsula and what is now called Manchuria. But keep in mind that Manchuria was never Chinese and was mostly Korean throughout history. China did not like having Koguryo, a powerful warrior state on its border, so it allied with a smaller Korean state (Silla) and defeated Koguryo. But that was the only time that China actually had fears that a Korean state (Koguryo) might decide to invade China, and that was a long time ago, like some 1400 years ago!
Many may have wondered just how North Korea has been able to survive and continue to build nuclear bombs and missiles despite some very stiff international sanctions, sanctions that are much tougher than the ones that were imposed on Iran. Well, that is because they were able to still get what they needed to build those bombs and missiles from China. In other words, China has been actively supporting North Korea's nuclear program and arms built up.
Since its earliest history, China was always been a great country of commerce. Chinese ships have been known to sail all over the world and establish trade. There is evidence that Chinese trading ships had reached South America centuries before Spanish explorers. Even North America is said to have been first reached by Chinese trading ships. In the glory days of the Silk Road, Changan (today's Sian), the great Chinese capital, was the most cosmopolitan city in the world with trade goods from all over! Trade and commerce is what China is all about. It was never known to be a great military power, that is why it was conquered by Manchus and Mongols in the past. China has always sought domination through commerce, and to that end, they have always used surrogates to do their saber rattling and fighting. Kim Jong Un and North Korea, whether they know it or not, are dancing to the Chinese tune, playing to their music.
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