In whichever way the Biden administration tries to direct its foreign policy in the Korean Peninsula, North Korea has made it more than clear that it is not interested in engaging with the new administration anytime soon. Kim Jong-Un, who kept giving soft signals to the rest of the world about his intentions to move away from Beijing during the Trump-era, has suddenly redeveloped his allegiance towards the communist state.
This comes as North Korea faces unprecedented food shortages spurred out of China’s orchestrated clampdown on bilateral trade in May this year. Given the immense influence enjoyed by DPRK’s largest trading partner, China could be arm-twisting the North Korean leadership to re-engage in hostility against the USA and the southern neighbour, South Korea.
Kim Jong-un last week said publicly that North Korea is experiencing food shortages. “The people’s food situation is now getting tense,” he told senior leaders at a meeting. The starvation has intensified after North Korean imports from China saw a whopping 90% drop in May as compared to the last month. Media reports have described the markets in North Korea as currently in turmoil, where the prices of white rice and corn have skyrocketed since the beginning of June. Another agency reported Tuesday that commodity prices were sharply rising in some North Korean regions.
As reported by Asia Times, people in some regions are hopeful of massive food aid pouring in from China next month. No such announcements have been made from the Chinese side, however. China is North Korea’s largest trading partner, and any such crisis in the autocratic state can further push DPRK into China’s realm of influence. China is now capitalising on North Korea’s crisis and pitching in hard to rein in the latter’s attempts to break the ice with the South.
Biden administration’s disastrous foreign policy on North Korea has provided China with an opportune moment to deter North Korea from adopting a harsh attitude against Beijing. It was only under the Trump administration that Kim Jong-Un even hinted out at doing away with Communism and adopt a more responsible working attitude. In January this year, Kim said that North Korea’s economic problems would be possible only after “breaking with current wrong ideological viewpoint, irresponsible working attitude, incompetence and obsolete working manner.”
North Korea’s disillusion with China is well known, given the economic woes being suffered by its people at the hands of Chinese dominance. However, the economic perils and over-dependence on the communist giant have made it arduous for North Korea to keep up its soft attitude towards South Korea or the USA.
While Trump was in power, his path-breaking peace efforts convinced Kim Jong-Un to pursue a soft line on South Korea and Japan. Trump’s crackdown on China bolstered Kim’s attempts to do away with Beijing and embrace the neighbouring democracies that could even bring some economic respite to the sulking nation.
Now as Trump is out, Biden has left North Korea at the mercy of CCP’s hands, and CCP is making sure not to squander Biden’s largesse. The Sino-North Korean cooperation has again embarked on a path of revival but at the cost of North Korea’s budding relationship with its Southern neighbour.