Top U.S. officer urges China to act on threat of N. Korean provocations

SEOUL, July 14 (Yonhap) -- The threat of more North Korean provocations remains real and China should assume a leadership role to deter the communist regime, a senior U.S. military officer said Thursday.
Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said North Korea has shown "no signs of relenting in pursuit of its nuclear capabilities" and that he believe it will provoke again.



"I have said for a long time that the only thing that is predictable about North Korea is their unpredictability," Mullen said in an interview in Seoul, according to a pool report.
Mullen was visiting South Korea for Thursday's inauguration of Gen. James Thurman as the new commander of the U.S. troops stationed here.
North Korea torpedoed the South Korean warship Cheonan in March last year, killing 46 sailors aboard, and shelled the border island of Yeonpyeong in November, taking four more South Korean lives.
Mullen said he thinks the North's "provocation cycle" is tied to its attempt to complete another hereditary power succession, with leader Kim Jong-il's third son, Kim Jong-un, awaiting in the wings. North Korea would try to tout its regime and the leadership of the upcoming leader, he said.
"And the expectation from my perspective is that unless the leadership in the North is deterred, they will continue to (provoke the South)," he said.
Mullen noted that the North Korean issue isn't merely a regional one but a global issue, saying he'd recently urged the Chinese "to play a leadership role."
"I believe a measure, a multilateral approach, is needed and not just now but will be needed for a long time into the future," Mullen said. "So (I) certainly encourage other partners... to help contribute to deterrence. We all stand to gain from a stable peninsula."
Mullen said he'd tried to convince China by emphasizing the U.S. responsibility in the region to support peace and stability, "and that certainly includes the Chinese."
"I also reaffirmed with the Chinese the U.S. is not going anywhere," Mullen said. "This is a vital region and we have been here for a long time and will continue to be here for a long time. We've got allies and we have alliances. We have got emerging relationships, all of which are vital as well."
Mullen acknowledged that China, despite being the North's biggest ally and economic benefactor, can only do so much by itself.
"I just think we also have to have a realistic expectation about how much any one country can do with respect to (the North Korean issue)," he said. "I believe that China certainly has influence in Pyongyang but it is not an infinite amount of influence, I think we have to understand that as we continue to work that challenge. But at the same time from my perspective, (the Chinese) are very focused on working on that issue."
Mullen stressed that the South Korea-U.S. alliance still plays an important role in maintaining peace in the region.
"This is a vital alliance and the U.S. commitment to this alliance is firm," he said. "There may have been a change of command here today, but nothing has changed about the U.S. military resolve and readiness."
About 28,500 U.S. troops serve here as a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War. It ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically at war with each other.
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