South Korea and U.S. Gird for Missile Test by North Korea

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/11/world/asia/north-korea-missile.html?hp&_r=0

From the CFR:

Daily News Brief April 10, 2013

Top of the Agenda: South Korea Ups Warnings of Attack From North

South Korea's foreign minister Yun Byung-se confirmed Wednesday that North Korea had moved a mid-range ballistic missile to its east coast, and said that the possibility of a missile launch by Pyongyang was "very high" (Yonhap). South Korea has asked China and Russia to help restrain North Korea from making military provocations as tensions on the Korean Peninsula have drastically escalated since the UN Security Council slapped fresh sanctions on Pyongyang. North Korea observes several anniversaries this week (Reuters), including the first anniversary of Kim Jong-un's formal ascent to power.

Analysis

"It seems that China's North Korea policy is actually a part of its United States policy, which means that as long as distrust of the United States haunts some of China's decision makers and their academic consultants, China won't do 'all it can' to rein in North Korea," writes Ouyang Bin for ChinaFile.

"[Today's] North Korea becomes the true hub of the multilateral relations that dominate all of Asia. This does not mean that China is keen on seeing the sudden and unpredictable collapse of North Korea, but Beijing [can] no longer afford to put all its foreign policy apples in Pyongyang's basket, and thus it needs now more than ever to bring North Korea under control," writes Francesco Sisci for Asia Times.

"Analysts who accept the rebalancing as based on sound geo-strategic principles nevertheless say Pentagon statements and force deployments should not be the most visible face of the Obama administration's core Asia policy," writes Paul Eckert for Reuters.