North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il may or may not have apologized to China for playing with nukes. Milwaukee blogger Neo-Con*Tastic eloquently expresses the appropriate skepticism. “Yea, what a crock of %&@#. We all know that Kim Jong Il is lying through his tiny teeth. There is no way he's sorry for what he's done, I don't believe it.” Exactly.
While it is good to doubt anything the NORK’s say, Beloved Leader is probably astute enough to understand the Realpolitik of the region. California State Assemblyman Chuck Devore draws upon his background as a Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs in the Reagan White House and presents the reasons why China may be willing to take out North Korea. China's reasons to take out Kim Jong Il.
•First, China does not wish to give Japan the excuse to develop its own nuclear arsenal. Japan has enough plutonium to build some 8,000 nuclear warheads, and it has the technology to build the missiles to deliver them accurately to Beijing. A nuclear-armed Kim Jong Il gives Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe exactly the rationale he needs to rearm Japan. It may also encourage other Asian powers, foremost being Taiwan. to seek to acquire nuclear weapons.
•Second, China believes it can work a transformational quid pro quo with South Korea's leadership. The deal? China would topple North Korea in exchange for South Korea's promise to eject all U.S. military forces from the peninsula. South Korea's president, Roh Moo-hyun is well-known for his strong anti-U.S. and nationalist beliefs. Reunifying Korea and removing all U.S. forces from Korean soil would cement Mr. Roh's status as a truly historic Korean leader.
•Third, reunifying Korea would effectively eliminate Korea as an economic competitor to China for two decades as South Korea would invest more than $1 trillion to rebuild the North to bring it up to Southern standards.
•Fourth, a united Korea preoccupied with rebuilding the North would share a long and vulnerable border with China, forcing Korea completely into a Chinese tributary orbit, as it has been for much of its history. This would represent a strategic Chinese diplomatic victory and would represent a blow to Japan and the U.S.
•Fifth and perhaps just as important as all the other reasons, a Korea reunited under the auspices of China would greatly strengthen China's hand in demanding the same of Taiwan, even though the historical case for unification is weak while the moral case is nonexistent.
