BEIJING — On Friday, April 5, North Korea warned some foreign embassies in Pyongyang that it couldn't guarantee the safety of their diplomats. On Monday, it suspended operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex, a business park jointly run by the two halves of the Korean peninsula. But for a sign of just how isolated North Korea has become, look at the Chinese Internet. The Kim family "has driven itself into a corner surrounded by enemies," Ma Dingsheng, a well-known military commentator with more than 375,000 followers, wrote in a Sina Weibo post on Monday. "Over here, China is doing all it can, trying to erect a stage for a six-party talk; over there, Pyongyang is bombing the stage with a nuclear weapon. Even Xi Jinping has come to the end of his patience and berated North Korea for 'throwing a region and the world into chaos for selfish gain,'" Ma wrote, referencing a rare scolding remark from the Chinese president on Sunday.
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As Beijing, Pyongyang's sole important ally, shows signs of shifting away from North Korea, the Chinese public also appears to be shedding its sympathy for Pyongyang. On Sina Weibo, China's popular social media platform, reactions toward Kim Jong Un's bellicosity generally range from derision to exasperation. The young dictator is a favorite target of ridicule among Chinese Weibots, who call him "Fatty Kim the Third," an "ungrateful juvenile," as well as the less subtle "crazy and unbalanced psycho."
There's a change in the air. The Chinese public's feelings toward North Korea have typically been a mixture of condescension, distrust, and compassion. While the memory of the Korean War -- in which the two countries fought together against the Americans -- is fading, some Chinese still empathize with their benighted neighbor, who they see as the underdog of the international stage. Some draw parallels between North Korea's position today and China's during the 1960s, when it conducted its first nuclear test, and express admiration for Pyongyang's defiant attitude toward the United States. "North Korea is building nuclear weapons to protect itself, just like China did before," a stay-at-home mother in her 40s, who gave her name as Wang, said in an interview on Monday in a public park in Beijing's university district. "The United States should mind its own business and stop meddling with other countries' affairs."
This view, however, seems to be in the minority, as an increasing number of Chinese are calling for a tougher stance toward North Korea. "China should exercise necessary sanctions against North Korea to deepen its awareness of the importance of external aid and the strategic meaning of the support it receives from China," read a Monday editorial in Global Times, a tabloid newspaper known for its nationalistic views. "China has been carrying out the same policies to support North Korea for so many years, but it has always followed its own script," said Qiao Wei, an editor at Beijing World Publishing Corporation. Qiao speaks fluent Korean, having spent a year of college in 2003 studying the language at Kim Il-sung University in Pyongyang. "We've been too indulgent, and it's time to give it some pressure."
Deng Yuwen, formerly the deputy editor of the Communist Party journal Study Times, went further in a controversial op-ed in late February in The Financial Times, where he argued that "Beijing should give up on Pyongyang and press for the reunification of the Korean Peninsula." North Korea has shown that it is no longer useful as a buffer against United States influence, Deng maintained, and its fickle behavior makes it more a liability than an asset for China in the long term. (Since the article's publication, Deng has been suspended from his job.)
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