After South Korean President Park Geun-hye addressed to the United Nations, North Korea has hinted to potentially cancel the upcoming family reunion event in North Korea based on President Park's remarks. (Korea Times 9/30/2015)
North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea criticized President Park’s speech to the U.N. as “an unpardonable provocation”. Listening to President Park’s speech (C-Span 9/28/2015), one has to wonder whether the North Korean committee even bothered to listen the South Korean President’s speech or simply submitted a pre-written, boisterous response to the world.
The family reunion event is a rare inter-Korean event that carries significant emotional weight to all Koreans. With the North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un still attempting to solidify his power base in his own country, the occasional threatening messages from North Korea is not unusual.
However, North Korea should be very careful with its incendiary rhetoric.
It has merely been a few weeks ago since China celebrated its World War II victory parade with President Park seated merely two seats away from the Chinese President Xi. (Arirang News 9/3/2015) With North Korean leader Kim Jung Un not attending a significant Chinese event, the geopolitical alliance has shifted significantly to South Korea’s favor.
China, being the last reliable ally of North Korea, has constantly reiterated the stability of the Korean peninsula. If North Korea decides to cancel the family reunion event due to an unjustifiable reason, there is little reason to believe that China would publically support North Korea’s rash actions.
Being already unpopular among the Chinese citizens, Kim Jung Un is running out of options in foreign diplomacy. Unless North Korea changes its own behavior in face of the international community, it is a matter of time until China seriously considers stop helping North Korea.