With President Trump placing his faith in China' s ability to keep its neighbor under control - through threats, promises, or oil embargoes - it appears, according to unconfirmed rumors spreading widely on Chinese social media Tuesday, that  North Korea just got its final warning.

As Korea Times reports,  Chinese news outlets have previously said Beijing could turn its back on Pyongyang if the latter conducted a sixth nuclear test. But the rumor that China has given North Korea a final warning has drawn particular interest from Weibo users.



China has sent a final warning to North Korea over its military provocations.

The rumor cited the May issue of Hong Kong monthly news outlet Dong Xiang.

 

 

It said a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs junior minister invited Park Myung-ho, an official of North Korea, for a meeting.  China' s Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended the meeting and asked his junior to read aloud the warning to the North over the nuclear test.

 

The memorandum mentioned that China will condemn strongly,  pull back on all economic cooperation and even blockade North Korea if it conducted the test.

A Chinese netizen said:  " Maybe the bond between the nations is not that strong as we thought. North Korea is completely surrounded by enemies now."

The Chinese government did not provide any explanation or correction to the rumor, but this follows reports of  China' s embassy warning citizens in North Korea to " return home" as fears grow of escalation with the US.

 

 

 

 

 

In an unprecedented move, the  Chinese Embassy in North Korea has advised Korean-Chinese residents to return home  amid concern that the North' s military provocations may trigger a U.S. attack on the North.



The  Korea Times reports  that the  embassy began sending the message on Apr. 20, five days before the North celebrated the 85th anniversary of the Korean People' s Army  with a show of military power, according to Radio Free Asia (a U.S.-based station specializes in North Korea).

The station cited a Korean-Chinese living in the North' s capital, who said he left for China late last month after the embassy contacted him. He said he has been visiting China every two to three months but,  after being told he should " stay in China for a while," left North Korea a month early.

 

 

" The embassy has never given such a warning. I was worried and left the country in a hurry,"   said the man, whose name was withheld.

But he said that  most Korean-Chinese residents in Pyongyang were ignoring the message.

The  city' s " peaceful" atmosphere,  despite the global crisis due to the state' s threats involving missiles and nuclear tests, might have  kept them unaware of the situation, he added.

The  embassy' s warning indicates that China is worried  that the saber-rattling North and U.S. moves to destabilize the Kim Jong-un regime might affect Chinese citizens abroad.

 

 

As tensions between the United States and North Korea continue to grow, President Trump has warned  " major, major conflict" between the two countries is possible.  He added that he would prefer to solve the situation through diplomacy before praising Chinese President Xi Jinping, calling him " a very good man" who loves his country.  The outbreak of hostilities  could prove devastating for the South Korean capital, Seoul, which is targeted by thousands of artillery pieces dug in just over the border.

However,  as Statista' s Niall McCarthy notes,  the pressing issue continues to be the country' s ballistic missile program and its efforts to develop a nuclear warhead small enough to fit  into a missile capable of striking Japan, the U.S. bases on Guam or the continental U.S. itself.

Is American concern at developments in North Korea justified?



You will find more statistics at  Statista

As can be seen on the following infographic,  the pace of missile testing has accelerated steeply,  even though many of the launches have resulted in failure. This year alone, Pyongyang has tested 9 ballistic missiles with 5 of the tests resulting in success (including Friday' s failure), according to the  Nuclear Threat Initiative.

2017' s mere 55% success rate is the worst since 1984' s 50% success rate.

In 2016, 24 tests were carried out - 14 were successful and 10 resulted in failure.