Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Springtime in Pyongyang? China ‘has secret plan to replace N. Korean leader’!

This is the second time I’ve heard lately about China perhaps deciding that regime change is the best course for handling North Korea. Fine by me.    Meanwhile, gunmen who may have been members of the North Korean military took over a Chinese fishing boat, stole its food and fuel, and demanded a ransom. “Rogue ...

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This is the second time I've heard lately about China perhaps deciding that regime change is the best course for handling North Korea. Fine by me.   

This is the second time I’ve heard lately about China perhaps deciding that regime change is the best course for handling North Korea. Fine by me.   

Meanwhile, gunmen who may have been members of the North Korean military took over a Chinese fishing boat, stole its food and fuel, and demanded a ransom. “Rogue border guards” are being blamed. The Chinese captain says he was in Chinese waters.

The AP quotes a Chinese officer, Maj. Gen. Luo Yuan, as writing that, “North Korea has gone too far! Even if you are short of money, you can’t grab people across the border and blackmail.”

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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