US and China Come Together Over Defiant North Korea

North Korea’s leaders have long sought international attention with threats of missile launches. Rather than ignore the errant behavior, China now sides with the United States. After meeting with Chinese officials, the US special representative for North Korea reported that “Both sides agreed that ‘a nuclear test would be troubling and a setback to the efforts to denuclearise the Korean peninsula,’” reports the Telegraph. “As North Korea's main economic lifeline, China is seen as the only country with any genuine leverage over the impoverished, isolated and nuclear-armed state.” China agreed that a United Nations resolution on expanded sanctions is an appropriate response to a December rocket launch. Pyongyang is lashing out at the US and South Korea for enforcing sanctions, UN members for “blind hand-raising,” and unnamed “big countries” allies for abandoning principles and “failing to come to their senses.” A state-run Chinese newspaper editorial threatens an end to food aid for the North and ominously suggested “trouble” in the North would not be the “end of the world.” – YaleGlobal