Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 06/2012

China-North Korea: Renewal of the "Blood Alliance"

Masako Ikegami

April 2012

East-West Center

Abstract

As North Korea’s latest rocket-missile launch approaches, there is speculation whether Beijing can halt Pyongyang’s missile ambitions. In my view, Beijing will turn a blind eye towards North Korea’s latest provocation, while simultaneously calling for restraint by all parties. Recently, the China-North Korea “blood alliance,” a concept of allies that originated during the Korean War, has been renewed, and it is in China’s interests that North Korea consolidates its “absolute deterrence”