On this episode of China Uncensored,
5 ways the Chinese regime props up North Korea
Welcome back to China Uncensored.
I’m your host Chris Chappell.
It’s been five weeks since the historic meeting
between North Korean Dear Leader Kim Jong-Un,
and His Excellency Donald Trump.
No, seriously.
Kim Jong-Un has just sent a letter to Donald Trump,
calling him “your excellency” 5 separate times.
Ugh, what a fanboy!
Don’t you realize that no one else
calls Donald Trump “your excellency”?
They call him God Emperor.
But anyway, last month’s Trump-Kim meeting
was bad news for the Chinese Communist Party.
“China, once the primary conduit
between Washington and Pyongyang,
is at risk of being largely left on the outside.”
You see, the Chinese Communist Party
liked to be the middleman.
“If you want to talk the North Korean regime
out of nuking the world back to the stone age,
you have to go through us.”
But now, the Trump-Kim bromance
is attempting to cut out the middleman.
And that makes Xi Jinping sad.
And then Trump launched a trade war with China.
And that makes Xi Jinping mad.
Mad enough, that Trump thinks Xi Jinping
may be trying to “exert negative pressure” on Kim Jong-un
to not honor his agreement.
Trump “hopes not!”—
but there have been some hiccups.
Like how North Korean officials didn’t show up
for a scheduled meeting with the US military.
And the indications that the North Korean regime
is still working on its nuclear program.
So is the Chinese Communist Party
“exerting negative pressure” on Kim Jong-un
to not work with Trump?
It’s hard to say.
Xi Jinping met with Kim Jong-un three times this year—
including once after Kim’s summit with Trump.
So it’s clear that the Chinese Communist Party
is still heavily involved with North Korea,
and could be influencing how they deal with the US.
In any case, it is clear that for decades,
the Chinese Communist Party has been propping up
the North Korean regime—
for the very purpose of having this kind of control.
Here are 5 ways.
Number 5
Trade
North Korea has always been an international pariah.
That’s why it’s one of the most heavily sanctioned
countries on the planet.
How did the Kim Dynasty survive?
China.
“China now represents more than
90 percent of Pyongyang’s trade,
making it just about North Korea’s only economic lifeline.”
The other 10%?
Well, let’s just say they found a side hustle.
Number 4
Hacking
Nuclear attacks aren’t the only weapon
in North Korea’s arsenal.
Turns out,
they have some very proficient hackers.
According to the Korea Institute of Liberal Democracy in Seoul,
“Today, an elite squad of 6,800 North Korean state hackers
are engaged in fraud, blackmail and online gambling
that together generate annual revenue of $860 million.”
Wow, that’s like 7% of their GDP just from hacking.
Now you may not think of North Korea
as the place for cutting-edge cyber warfare.
But you know what?
You’ve got to start them young.
Where did North Korea get these cyber skills?
From their friendly neighbor,
the Chinese Communist Party.
“North Korean hackers have attended schools in China
and used it as a staging ground for attacks...
[North Korea eventually] established a large outpost
for its secretive hacking unit in China.”
And that’s had serious consequences for the world.
“The magnitude of the attack here is tremendous.
We’re talking 200,000 computers
across 150 different countries
so this is really the biggest cyber shakedown in history.”
And ironically,
one of the victims of that attack was...China!
Some relationships are just complicated.
Number 3
Future-Planning
The Chinese Communist Party had big plans for North Korea.
They wanted to mold the North Korean economy
to become like China’s model of state-run capitalism.
And this was the man to do it.
That’s Kim Jong-Nam, eldest son of Kim Jong-Il
and half brother of current leader Kim Jong-Un.
Originally, he was in line to become the leader of North Korea
after Kim Jong-Il.
But then—and this is true—
he got caught making a trip to Disneyland in Tokyo
using a fake passport.
It became kind of an embarrassment for Kim Jong-Il.
So “Kim Jong Nam quickly fell out of favor with his father,
and was replaced by Kim Jong Un in the line of succession.”
Wow, that’s harsh.
One trip to Disneyland
and your father disowns you?!
But the Chinese regime took Kim Jong-Nam in,
showering him with the love and the Disneyland visits
his own father wouldn’t give him.
Why?
Because “Kim Jong Nam had supported
Chinese-style economic reforms in North Korea
and was seen by some as a possible replacement
for Kim Jong Un.”
It was a good plan.
Until Kim Jong-Un had him assassinated.
Allegedly.
Number 2
High Level Intel
In China, the secret sauce of power is guanxi,
or relationships.
Ok, to be fair,
relationships are the secret sauce of power everywhere.
It’s just that it sounds cooler in Chinese.
The point is, you have to know the right people.
And North Korean leaders knew all the right people.
Like Zhou Yongkang,
former head of China’s Security apparatus.
Here he is with Kim Jong-Il
and his best “happy face”.
And again in 2010 at a military parade.
The relationship had some perks.
For instance,
Kim’s uncle visited China in 2012
to meet with then Chinese leader Hu Jintao.
And Kim’s uncle allegedly proposed the deal of the century!
He secretly offered to stop North Korea’s nuclear program
in exchange for the Chinese regime’s help
with economic development and putting
Kim Jong-Nam on the throne.
But that would have been bad news for Kim Jong-un!
Fortunately, Kim Jong-un’s good buddy in China,
Zhou Yongkang, told him about uncle Jang's conversation.
So Kim disciplined his uncle.
And by disciplined, I mean executed.
By the way, there are competing factions
within the Chinese Communist Party, too.
There’s one faction what wanted to put
Kim Jong-nam in power.
And another one—starring Zhou Yongkang—
that warned Kim Jong-un about his naughty uncle.
But both factions have something in common:
They’ve been trying to prop up the North Korean regime,
because they don’t want it to collapse.
That’s why it’s so important
that they helped the regime with...
Number 1
Nuclear weapons
We can’t talk about the Chinese regime
propping up the North Korean regime
without mentioning former Chinese leader
and human-size toad Jiang Zemin.
Jiang Zemin and Kim Jong-il were close.
How close?
Too close.
And Jiang Zemin is actually one of the reasons
we’re in this mess with North Korea in the first place.
Jiang Zemin helped them develop nukes.
Previous Chinese leaders had refused to—
because even Deng Xiaoping who loved killing students,
or Mao Zedong who loved killing...anybody...
weren’t crazy enough to give weapons of mass destruction
to the leaders of North Korea.
But Jiang Zemin, well, he was just the right kind of crazy.
According to this Radio Free Asia report, Jiang Zemin
started giving North Korea nuclear material in 1989.
Allegedly because he was mad at the world
for criticizing the Chinese Communist Party
for killing students in the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
Yeah, that’ll show the world.
And Jiang Zemin took North Korea under his arm and said...
“Someday, and that day may never come,
I will call upon you to do a service for me.”
And that day eventually came.
It was decades later when Jiang Zemin
and his allies were under political attack.
According to one China analyst, Jiang’s people,
“may have even influenced the timing
of North Korea’s five nuclear tests”
as a distraction whenever their faction came under attack.
Now, if Jiang did give North Korea
help with their nuclear program,
he wasn’t alone.
North Korea also got help from the Soviet Union,
Egypt, and Pakistan.
But I bet none of them got a thank you like this.
So those are five ways the Chinese Communist Party
has propped up the North Korean regime.
It’s been a pretty close friendship for 30 years.
So you can see why they might be a tad jealous
when some American cowboy comes in
to sweep Kim Jong-un off his feet.
And before you go,
now’s the time on the show when we answer questions
from fans who support China Uncensored on Patreon.
H.W. asks,
“Why do you say "Chinese Communist Party"
out in full every time?
Wouldn't it be easier to just say "Chinese government?"
Seems more time-saving
and doesn't confuse new viewers
who don't know what the CCP is.”
Ahh, very good question!
And the answer is:
The Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party
are not the same thing.
The Chinese government is the bureaucratic structure
that handles the administrative affairs of the country.
But what’s unusual about China
is that the Chinese Communist Party
is actually completely in charge.
It sits on top of the government,
and controls it—like a parasite.
The Communist Party controls not only the government,
but also the media, businesses, religions, trade unions,
and really everything else in society.
So the government and the Party are really not the same thing.
When the Chinese government does something,
it’s almost always because the Communist Party
is pulling the strings.
That’s why, to be accurate,
I say Chinese Communist Party.
Thanks for your question, H.W.
Actually, maybe this deserves a full episode.
For for everyone, leave your comments below
if you like to see an episode about the differences
between the Chinese government
and the Chinese Communist Party.
Thanks for watching this episode of China Uncensored.
Once again I’m your host Chris Chappell.
See you next time.
Thanks for watching.
If you want to see more episodes,
please support China Uncensored
on the crowdfunding website Patreon.
You can contribute a dollar or more per episode—
so we can stay independent
and keep bringing you great content.
Click this orange button,
or the link below.