The rocky relationship between China and North Korea

Many people think that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK) must have very strong friendship considering 200,000 to 400,000 Chinese soldiers gave their lives, and many more were wounded to save DPRK in the Korean War, and the PRC is the lifeline of the impoverished DPRK.  The DPRK has been supposed to be grateful to the PRC like many European countries to the USA.  This is far from the truth.  The nature of the totalitarian regimes of both countries determines that the relationship between these two nations is determined by personalities of a few, and ideology that changes over time.  In the case of the DPRK and the PRC, the relationship was determined by two dictators - Mao and Kim - for a long time.  It has been a rocky one.

The Korean War is by far the most significant event in the history of PRC-DPRK relationship. Fortunately, the recently declassified documents of former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) have provided a good picture of the events leading to, during the Korean War that took place in the DPRK, the PRC and the USSR.  Stalin was the de facto leader of all socialist countries. Here is the sequence of the major events showing how the three dictators determined a war causing millions of casualties:

1. Kim was the commander of the 6th division (a few hundred soldiers) of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, a guerrilla group led by the Communist Party of China, then escaped to the USSR becoming a major in its Red Army during World War II.
2. The USSR installed Kim as the leader of North Korea after WWII and eliminating other leaders. Kim, with only 8 years of schooling in China, could barely speak Korean at that point of time.
3. Kim planned to unify Korea by invading South Korea, but was opposed by Stalin for a period of time until May 1950 when he had a trip to Moscow.
4. Kim started the war on June 25, 1950 without informing the PRC.
5. Mao offered help to guard the rare area preventing possible dangerous amphibious assaults by the US when Kim’s Korean People’s Army won initial victories in the south, but Kim declined because Stalin wanted the USSR to dominate the unified Korea to provide them multiple non-freezing navy harbors.
6. Kim desperately asked Stalin and Mao for help when his (KPA) was almost wiped out by the UN force consisting mainly of the US army at the beginning of October 1950.
7. Premier Zhou was dispatched by Mao to Moscow to haggle with Stalin regarding the USSP providing air forces and weapons to support Chinese intervention. At one point, it was decided to give up North Korea and arrange Kim to set up a government in exile.
8. Against the objection of the vast majority of Chinese senior leaders, Mao decided to send Chinese troops into Korea.

At least 183,108 Chinese troops have been identified to give their lives to save Kim’s dynasty. The actual death toll may be much higher (the US estimate is over 400,000). The Kim’s dynasty is about to be handed to the third generation – Kim Il-sung’s grandson Kim Jong Un who, with almost no military experience, was made a four-star general at the age of 27 in 2010. Under the rule of Kim family, hundreds of thousands of people died of starvation each year for many years in 1990s. People of DPRK are under brainwash constantly. For example, their radios and televisions must be modified to receive only government stations, and must be registered at special state department.

There have been numerous reports that DPRK show very limited or little gratitude to either the PRC or the USSR for their help. This may be due to their effort to promote the image of their first ruler – Kim Il-sung who has received much more credit than he deserves for fighting the Japanese and the UN forces. The ungratefulness of DPRK may also has to do with the fact Kim was never highly regarded by the Chinese officials. He served as commander of a tiny division in an army under the CCP during WWII.  Almost every senior official in Beijing was many levels above him. According to anecdotes, Peng, the commander of Chinese troops in Korea, slapped Kim upon stepping off a plane. China gave Kim two divisions as the core of KPA when Kim was trying to establish his army.  Probably most of these two divisions’ soldiers were killed by the time Chinese troops entered Korea.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s support for Kim reminds people of its support for Pol Pot who slaughtered a quarter of Cambodia’s population. Mao’s successor Deng also started a war – the Sino-Vietnamese War – to save Pol Pot by sacrificing tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers.  Very fortunately, Pol Pot’s regime has not been saved, and Cambodians are much better off now without Pol Pot regime. Pol Pot died on the day when he was supposed to be transferred to a tribunal to be tried for his crimes. The day will come when Kim’s family will be tried for their crimes.  The supporters of these criminals will be recorded in the history.