China's Influence in Korea

President Lee Myung-bak will travel to Beiijing this week to enlist the help of the Chinese in support for tougher sanctions against the North. However, analysts say he is unlikely to win that support. President Lee's policy, which are considered more confrontational and open about the North, may have driven the North into the hands of the Chinese.

Newspapers in Seoul report daily on growing concerns that the North is becoming a Chinese colony. Growing fears are that Beiijing will have powerful control over the Korean peninsula and will be able to pick up the spoils of the conflict between the North and South. For instance, the Chinese have already started to take over North Korean ports and mining posts. Analysts differ on whether the rising fear of China is due to the economic boom of the People's Republic or just the unraveling of the 'hear no evil, see no evil' policy usually held between the North and South. President Lee's policies are being criticized for their inability to gain international cooperation and essentially allowing the North to become even more isolated and unpredictable.

China, which supplies an estimated 70 percent of North Korea’s trade, is the one country that can provide the necessary economic pressure to push the isolated North to the brink of collapse — or, as Washington, Seoul and Tokyo hope, press it to agree to concessions over its nuclear weapons program. But Beiijing is certainly playing for keeps. A total meltdown in North Korea would send a major amount of refugees into China. So, it is in their best interest to maintain the status quo, keeping North Korea afloat and resisting extreme sanctions.