There has been a heightened sense in Seoul (and in some think tanks and government agencies in Washington) that China’s stance toward North Korea might be changing in directions that would help resolve the nuclear standoff with Pyongyang. Expectations were raised in February when the deputy editor of the (Chinese Central Party School’s) Study Times wrote an op-ed in the Financial Times arguing that China should let North Korea collapse. President Park Geun-hye’s “trustpolitik” strategy also aims to take advantage of Chinese frustration with North Korea to bring greater pressure on Pyongyang to denuclearize and engage the South.
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