China media threatens N. Korea aid cut over atomic test
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People watch a TV news showing file footage of a North Korean rocket carried during a military parade, at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Jan 24, 2013. North Korea's top governing body warned Thursday that the regime will conduct its third nuclear test in defiance of UN punishment, and made clear that its long-range rockets are designed to carry not only satellites but also warheads aimed at striking the US. -- PHOTO: AP
BEIJING (AFP) - North Korea's sole major ally China will decrease aid to Pyongyang if it goes ahead with a planned nuclear test, state-run media said in an unusually frank warning on Friday.
China is the North's leading energy supplier and trade partner and is seen as one of the few nations able to influence Pyongyang's behaviour, with the comments adding a distinctive edge to its typical official calls for stability and dialogue.
"If North Korea engages in further nuclear tests, China will not hesitate to reduce its assistance to North Korea," the Global Times, which is close to the ruling Communist Party, said in an editorial.
"China hopes for a stable peninsula, but it's not the end of the world if there's trouble there," it added.
