Down the street from my home in Bangkok, next to a tailor and a nail salon, sits a peculiar outpost of the North Korean state. Inside the Pyongyang Okryu restaurant, five tall, pale waitresses float among the tables in sparkly dresses and carefully cultivated smiles. “Are they really North Korean?” my wide-eyed young son asked, a bit too loudly, on a recent visit. He’d been reading about the country’s isolation and the fusillade of insults and threats exchanged by President Trump and Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s leader. A waitress overheard him and nodded, but her blank smile — a rictus of nonrevelation — never wavered.
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WNU Editor: Five years ago .... there was zero debate in China on limiting their ties and support of North Korea. Today .... thanks to President Trump's pressure on Chinese President Xi and the actions of the North Korean government itself .... that debate is now raging in China. Will China continue to be a "lifeline" to North Korea ... I do not know. But if you follow trends .... do expect a curtailment of Chinese support.
Update: This is why China will not be completely on board with sanctions .... 'Many people will die' as North Korean sanctions bite, defector says (Nikkei Asian Review).
