This past weekends nuclear test has cost North Korea one of it's most prominent ptoectors.. China has joined with the other members of the UN Security Council in considering 'significant' sanctions against the government in Pyongyang.. an abrubt about turn from former statements from Beijing..
While the Chinese have called military action 'unimaginable'.. that has not been the case from the US.. the American Ambassador to the UN says Washington has 'not ruled out' military action against Kim Jong Il and his regeme.. but a diplomatic solution would be the first step in trying to control the proliferation of nuclear weapons..
Now the salient point is, whether or not North Korea would consider any diplomatic approaches against it's nuclear program..
China itself is deeply concerned at the possibility of military or severe economic action against North Korea, imagining massive reaction by the North Korean people themselves, as they would certainly seek asylum across their northern border into north eastern China..
With China itself on a course of internal development towards trade agreements with the West and Europe, an influx of North Koreans would put them in a situation not unlike that of Germany, when the Berlin wall came down and that country re-united.. the German economy is still recovering from that unification, and China is certainly not going willingly into that scenario..
Yet all agree that something must be done to curb the North Korean determination to posess nuclear capabilities.. just what that might be has yet to be decided..

Just a brief note here..
Britain might be unique with it's fascination with the game of snooker.. major tournaments are regularly televised, and have been for decades, making sporting hero's of the shining lights of that game..
One of those lights has been extinguished..
Yesterday, Paul Hunter died after a year-long fight against stomach cancer.. He was 27 years old..
His presence will be sorely missed both by the game, and the public on the whole..