North Korea accused the United States of carrying out 190 aerial recon missions against them in November. That would be entirely possible, because the rumors and scraps of information coming out of North Korea indicate that the government is falling apart. There have been more defections of senior North Korean government and military officials lately, and the border with China is more and more wide open to anyone with a little something to bribe the border guards with. For months, China has been moving more troops to their North Korean border. Partly this is to try and control the larger number of people fleeing the north, and to be ready if millions come across when the North Korean government collapses.
This is what many Chinese and South Korean officials are expecting, sooner, rather than later. Preparations have been made to go in with reconstruction and relief aid, as well as senior defectors who can help form a new government. It is not known what agreements have been made between China and South Korea over which country would take the lead in controlling a new government in North Korea. This is a touchy subject. South Korea expects Korea to be reunited soon. China has mixed feelings about that, not wanting a larger, pro-American nation on their border. But the subject has been discussed recently, if not much reported.
Sounds a bit optimistic. A key indicator would be if there are hasty, high-level but very discreet meetings between SKOR and China. |