USS Carl Vinson sailed away from, not to, Korean Peninsula

our top story centers around north korea. the regime held a key legislatitive meeting,with watchers still waiting for any messages to seoul or washington. beijing meanwhile, agreed to get tougher onits long time ally. connie kim starts us off with china's changein stance on the reclusive regime... which proved to be temporary and well timed in thepast. chinese president xi jinping did not displaya change of stance on dealing with north korea following a summit with u.s. president donaldtrump last week, but beijing seems to be upping more pressure on the north after seeing washington'sfirm stance against pyongyang's nuclear threats.

following the u.s.-china summit,... china's top nuclear envoy wu dawei quicklymade a trip to south korea to hold talks with his south korean counterpart kim hong-kyunon monday where the two agreed for stronger measures against north korea if north koreaconducts another nuclear test. "the two sides agreed to additional and strongerun security council resolutions if the north carries out a strategic provocation such asa nuclear test or an intercontinental ballistic missile launch despite warnings from the internationalcommunity." china, a traditional ally of north korea,had previously been reluctant to corner pyongyang too much.

but in what could be seen as a possible changeon china's north korea policy, beijing's foreign ministry released a rather refrained quoteto washington's uncommon decision to send back its uss carl vinson strike group nearthe korean peninsula, in contrast to widely expected strong opposition comments. china's recent moves seem to reflect u.s.secretary of state rex tillerson's statement in an interview with cbs following trump andxi's summit,... that beijing is beginning to recognize that north korea presents a threatto even china's interest. while there are speculations beijing may havedecided to take on a hardline policy against the regime,... some north korea watchers inseoul say this is part of china's calculated

moves. "it seems like china's north korea policychanged, but beijing has the habit of pushing north korea away whenever tensions rise onthe korean peninsula and pull pyongyang back when tensions die down." experts who agree with such view,... say chinais likely to display its original stance when washington's strategic assets pull out fromthe korean peninsula. connie kim, arirang news.