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Article: China holds key to changing North Korea, top North Korean defector says
- Article from:
- AP Worldstream
- Article date:
- April 21, 2005
- Author:
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BO-MI LIM, Associated Press Writer
AP Worldstream
04-21-2005
Dateline: SEOUL, South Korea
China holds the key to breaking down North Korea's communist regime, which has been kept alive only because of Beijing's support, the highest-ranking defector from Pyongyang said Thursday.
"The reason North Korea has sustained for this long is because China is backing it," said Hwang Jang Yop, a former chief of the North's parliament who once mentored North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. "But as soon as China breaks its alliance, it will be like a death notice" to Pyongyang.
The 82-year-old became North Korea's highest-ranking defector in 1997 when he fled to Seoul. In South Korea, Hwang lives under tight ...