Since the collapse of Communism around the world, North Korea has been short of friends and money and it has become increasingly threatening. China, the North's neighbour and ally in the Korean War, has turned away from socialist economics and it sometimes seems impatient with North Korea's rigid Stalinism and refusal to change with the times. But, China, like South Korea, does not want to see North Korea collapse, because that could mean hundreds of thousands of refugees streaming across the border, destabilising the region. Washington worries that soon North Korea may be able to reach the mainland of the United States with its Taepo-Dong II missile which could be tipped with chemical, biological or even crude nuclear weapons.
Nobody is sure.
Furthermore, the United States treats North Korea as a terrorist state, for selling missile technology to other rogue nations. In 1994, North Korea had to be bribed to abandon its plutonium producing nuclear programme in return for two safer light water reactors. That programme has now stalled. Carrot and stick Over the last year, North Korea has faced a carrot and stick strategy from South Korea the US and Japan. In exchange, Pyongyang has hoped to gain increased food aid to help deal with its devastating famine.