Actions speak louder than words when it comes to China. They will support North Korea no matter what. They are heavily invested in North Korea. They have joint agreements to develop North Korea's natural resources, oil in the Bonhai Sea, rare earth metals and uranium. They are not walking away from that or letting anyone else in. They also will not allow Kim's regime to fall and make those assets unavailable to them.

"Yet despite their frustration with Pyongyang, however, investigations in Dandong by The Sunday Telegraph last week suggest that the Chinese still prefer the devil they know. North Korea, even with its endless bluster and war threats, remains a country with which it can work, and represents a crucial buffer against what China sees as an American attempt to "encircle" it. If the regime collapsed, China would either be forced to take over the running of the country, or risk the possibility that it is subsumed into South Korea, bringing pro-western forces right to the Chinese border.
Which is why, on a single morning last week at the main branch of the Bank of Dandong, 11 people had no difficulty in transferring money from within China to the capital of North Korea despite the new UN sanctions.
While Kwangson bank may have lost its branch office, it is now possible instead to send money through this smaller local, but still state-run, bank.
Inside the branch, Wu Junhong, an assistant to the manager, held up a completed transfer slip. "Look," she said, "We just sent across €15,000 to Pyongyang - it's that easy.
"It takes one day, and you can send as much money as you like, there is no upper limit. And we offer five different currency options: dollars, euros, yen, Korean won and Chinese yuan."


"One of the main effects of the UN sanctions regime has been to authorise weapons seizures, but that will remain a largely ineffective measure until the Chinese implement it," said a former Western diplomat.

At the Bank of Dandong, Mrs Wu laughed at the suggestion that the sanctions might have stopped the flow of money. "How is that possible?" she asked.
"Business is still going on. We have lots of people every day."


[link to www.telegraph.co.uk]