Chinese Troops in Korea Make for Perplexing Situation

South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo reported on Jan. 15 that Chinese troops recently entered North Korea.
Chinese Troops in Korea Make for Perplexing Situation
1/19/2011
Updated:
1/19/2011
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/KoreaTank107759516_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/KoreaTank107759516_medium.jpg" alt="North Korea bombarded South Korean villages on Nov. 23, killing four and injuring 18. The picture shows South Korean soldiers using a K-1a tank for live-fire exercises. (Dong-a Ilbo/AFP/Getty Images)" title="North Korea bombarded South Korean villages on Nov. 23, killing four and injuring 18. The picture shows South Korean soldiers using a K-1a tank for live-fire exercises. (Dong-a Ilbo/AFP/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-119182"/></a>
North Korea bombarded South Korean villages on Nov. 23, killing four and injuring 18. The picture shows South Korean soldiers using a K-1a tank for live-fire exercises. (Dong-a Ilbo/AFP/Getty Images)
South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo reported on Jan. 15 that Chinese troops recently entered North Korea. If true, this would have been the first Chinese army to enter the Korean peninsula in the 50 years since the Korean War ended. Given the “blood alliance” between China and North Korea and the tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the move is regarded as quite unusual.

Although the scale of the Chinese troops being stationed is unknown, sources said that, “At midnight on Dec. 15, 2010, more than 50 Chinese armored vehicles and tanks entered North Korea’s Hoeryong crossing the Tumen River (Duman River) from China’s Sanhe, and residents of Sanhe were awakened by the roar of the armored vehicles,” the Chosun Ilbo reported. (http://chinese.chosun.com/big5/site/data/html_dir/2011/01/15/20110115000006.html)

Around the same time, some people in China’s Dandong also saw military jeeps entering North Korea’s Sinuiju. “Chinese armored vehicles can be used to suppress riots, and the jeeps may be used to control refugees fleeing North Korea,” the report quoted another source as saying.

South Korean and Chinese media recently reported that Chinese workers have completed maintenance construction at the port of Rason. The motivation of the Chinese military’s entering North Korea is neither political nor military, but rather guarding facilities at the port and protecting Chinese workers, the report said, quoting a Cheongwadae (the South Korean White House) official.

The Chinese regime could use the opportunity of stationing soldiers in Rason and send in large numbers of troops to intervene in the Korean Peninsula on the grounds of protecting Chinese nationals in the event of any unrest, Nam Joo-Hong, Ambassador for International Security of the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in the same report.

A source told South Korea’s Dong-A Ilbo that it was possible that the Chinese military could send troops to Pyongyang by the end of 2010 in the name of providing assistance to North Korea’s military modernization program; the troops were estimated to be two to three regiments with at least several thousand soldiers, and some commanders were receiving Korean language training and geography and customs-related education in China, according to an earlier report by Chosun Ilbo report on Oct. 20, 2010. (http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/10/20/2010102000337.html?Dep1=news&Dep2=headline1&Dep3=h1_01_rel01)

Dong-A Ilbo stated that although Kim Jong-il is still alive, North Korea in fact wants to rely on Chinese troops in Pyongyang to protect Kim Jong-un during the chaos when Kim Jong-il dies; South Korean government sources said that allowing Chinese troops to enter is against the principles of North Korean authorities, and therefore makes no sense, according to the same report.

South Korean public opinion holds that, the stationing of any Chinese in North Korea amidst the ever-growing tensions in the Korean Peninsula is quite unusual, and some South Korean Internet users regard Chinese troops’ entering North Korea to be something more serious than North Korea having nuclear weapons.

North Will Be Supported


<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Illness107792343_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Illness107792343_medium-308x450.jpg" alt="South Korean media report Chinese troops have entered North Korea. Some political commentators suspect Kim Jong-il's regime is in deep trouble. (Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images)" title="South Korean media report Chinese troops have entered North Korea. Some political commentators suspect Kim Jong-il's regime is in deep trouble. (Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-119183"/></a>
South Korean media report Chinese troops have entered North Korea. Some political commentators suspect Kim Jong-il's regime is in deep trouble. (Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images)
Hu Ping of Beijing Spring Magazine told The Epoch Times that the Chinese regime dispatched troops to North Korea to support Kim Jong-il and his son. “It will be a big blow to China, if North Korea collapsed and unified with South Korea. The Chinese regime therefore will firmly support North Korea,” he said, adding that it is unrealistic for the United States and the international community to expect China to play the role of a serious and responsible nation in international affairs.

The Chinese regime can’t possibly inform the United States about its military alliance with North Korea during the sensitive period ahead of Hu Jintao’s visit to the United States, said political commentator Wen Zhao during an interview with The Epoch Times.

Wen suspects that Kim Jong-il is in trouble if the Chinese regime is sending troops to North Korea. Kim worries that if he dies his son will need the protection of Chinese troops to “pull through a fragile and uncertain period of much turmoil.”

Wen also commented that the Chinese regime does not dare to openly state or admit that Chinese troops have entered North Korea.

Another political commentator, Chen Pokong, stated that North Korea has provoked South Korea with a series of military actions; Kim Jong-il fears that the United States and South Korea might really join forces to fight against North Korea; Kim is therefore depending on the Chinese army to strengthen his regime during any crisis. In addition, if Kim’s regime collapsed, the Chinese regime might become the United States’ next target; so it therefore felt the need to show off its military might in the Korean peninsula and send the message that it will not sit and watch if Kim’s regime is in danger.

Currently the alliance consisting of The United States, Japan and South Korea is growing stronger, and a fleet consisting of three U.S. aircraft carriers is stationed in East Asia. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak stated recently that, this year is a crucial year for a unified Korean peninsula. The deployment of Chinese troops in North Korea will undoubtedly complicate the situation in the Korean Peninsula, and add more unknown variables to Lee Myung-bak ’s “reunification” plan.

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Read the original Chinese articles:

http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/11/1/16/n3143799.htm and
http://epochtimes.com/gb/11/1/17/n3144979.htm