Lieutenant General In-Bum Chun, one of South Korea’s most decorated military leaders in history, believes despite China’s close trade ties with North Korea, the Kim regime is not afraid of angering Beijing.
Speaking in London at an event hosted by British think tank Policy Exchange, LG Chun said China “doesn’t have as much influence as we thought.”
He added: “The Chinese know that it’s better to have a nuclear NK than Americans at their borders.
“The Chinese don’t want their borders to be adjacent to an American-influenced country like South Korea.”
The sensational claims shed light on the mysterious relationship between Pyongyang and Beijing.
Beijing, along with Russia, has long opposed any military action in North Korea while officials have repeatedly criticised the US and South Korea for retaining THAAD missile defence systems.
China believes the system could be used to spy on China, despite attempts from both Seoul and Washington to allay those fears.
Lt-Gen Chun believes any attempts by the Chinese military to cross the North Korean border would rock the tense situation in the region.
He explained: ”If the Chinese ever are foolish enough to go into North Korea [in a military capacity], I applaud them because they’d be going into a nasty place and all the problems we [South Korea] now have would be theirs.”
Lt-Gen Chun concluded that there is a military option for dealing with North Korea, but it should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.
He said it was like “having a toothache where you have to pull out all your teeth and put them back in” – because the entire country would have to be reconstructed and reintegrated into the international community after more than six decades of isolation.
He added: “The military option should be the last option, and heaven forbid we have to use it.”