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Report: China weighs covert ops to overthrow North Korea's Kim

Special to World Tribune.com
EAST-ASIA-INTEL.COM
Friday, December 15, 2006

China has begun drawing up plans to attack North Korea, according to the Paris-based Intelligence Online newsletter.

Hu Jintao, head of the Central Military Commission, has ordered the Chinese military to draw up the attack plan as a move "deliberately meant as a threat to the regime of Kim Jong-Il." The report said the plan was leaked to sources close to Western intelligence in Hong Kong.

The action follows China's displeasure at the Oct. 9 nuclear test, which Hu regarded as a snub to the International Affairs Leadership Group that he has headed since 2003.

The report said Hu has dealt with Kim in a conciliatory manner, unlike his predecessor Jiang Zemin, who disliked the North Korean ruler.

North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Il and his generals inspect a Korean People's Army Unit in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency on December 6. AFP
According to the report, intelligence activities against the Kim regime also are being considered. The Chinese military intelligence service, known as 2 PLA, "is toying with the idea of a palace revolution that would kick out the 'Kim dynasty' and replace it with 'pro-Chinese generals,'" the report said.

China's top military officer on North Korea is said to be Gen. Yan Jiangfeng, current vice president and secretary-general of the China Institute for International Strategic Studies (CIIS), a think tank close to 2 PLA.

Yan was a military attaché in Pyongyang and is close to retired Gen. Xiong Guangkai, also at CIIS and who was close to Jiang.


Copyright © 2006 East West Services, Inc.

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