CAMBRIDGE, England -- Although you could argue that the current U.S. leadership caused the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula, it is not really an American crisis. Whatever weapons North Korea has, biological, chemical or nuclear, it does not yet have the means of delivering them to the United States. It does, however, have missiles that can reach major cities in South Korea, Japan, Russia and China.
Clearly Japan and South Korea, and probably Russia, do not have enough influence over Pyongyang to be able to affect its weapons policy. But China does. It is, then, understandable that Japan, South Korea and Russia would like the U.S. to take the lead in persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear-weapons ambitions. It is not so obvious why China is also taking that line.
North Korea is increasingly dependent on China for food and energy. It would be happy to be more dependent, but China has apparently refused to make up for the shortfalls caused by the halting of fuel-oil shipments by the Korean Economic Development Organization at the insistence of the U.S. The same applies to the reduction of food aid from all donors. Chinese President Jiang Zemin apparently even refused to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to discuss the situation when Kim requested a meeting.