BEIJING (Reuters) - China briefly cut off crucial oil supplies to North Korea recently in an apparent bid to rein in its unpredictable neighbor after Pyongyang test-fired missiles, diplomats said on Monday.

It was the first sign of Beijing appearing willing to use its economic muscle to twist arms in Pyongyang after months of criticism from Washington for failing to do enough to pressure North Korea to curb its nuclear ambitions.

Talk of Chinese pressure on its longtime ally came as a South Korean envoy, national security adviser Ra Jong-yil, headed to Russia and China to restart stalled efforts on a diplomatic resolution to the crisis.

China cited technical problems for the three-day shutdown in March of an oil pipeline running from its northeastern province of Liaoning to North Korea, but the message was clear: behave, a Western diplomat said.

"It was cut for three days after the second missile," the diplomat quoted Chinese sources as saying, referring to North Korea firing a cruise missile into the Sea of Japan on March 10, Pyongyang's second missile test in two weeks.

"The tough message was: get straight," the diplomat told Reuters.

One Asian diplomat gave a different time frame, February, for the urgent need to repair the pipeline.

"Many Chinese are talking about it, but it's not 100 percent confirmed," the diplomat said. China said the disruption of oil supply was "unintentional," but North Korea lodged a strong protest, he added.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment and state oil firm China National Petroleum Corp and trader Sinochem denied any suspension of oil supply to North Korea -- estimated at one million tons a year -- in the past two months.

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China, which fought alongside North Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War, remains the main supplier of food and oil to the isolated Communist state despite establishing ties with South Korea in 1992.

Diplomatic sources said Chinese officials have met their North Korean counterparts in public and in private up to 60 times since tensions began last October when Washington said North Korea had admitted covertly working to develop nuclear arms in violation of a 1994 accord.

Tensions escalated further after Pyongyang withdrew from a nuclear non-proliferation pact, expelled weapons inspectors and test-fired two missiles.

Beijing does not want a nuclear armed Pyongyang. The prospect, China's worst nightmare, creates visions of Japan, South Korea and even its longtime rival Taiwan going nuclear.

Nor does it want sanctions, at least publicly, fearing more brinkmanship from North Korea, or even a collapse that would send millions of hungry refugees pouring into China.

It was unclear, however, how much could be gained from talks while the United States wages war on Iraq.

North Korea, Iraq and Iran were labeled by President Bush as part of an "axis of evil," and Pyongyang fears it may be next on Washington's hit list.

"The Chinese are trying hard, but it's not working," the Western diplomat said. "The Chinese are tremendously worried about the course. This is not exactly headed in the direction of negotiation,"

"North Korea doesn't believe the United States will negotiate in good faith," he said. "It's about regime survival."

Watching the U.S.-led Iraqi invasion unfold, Pyongyang has speculated openly that it could be next on Bush's hit list.

"North Korea is convinced it's next after Iraq," said Gao Heng, a senior reseach fellow at the Institute of World Economic and Politics.

Pyongyang insists any nuclear program it may have would be purely defensive in face of what it perceives as an American military threat to its very existence.

Wait a second..why the hell are we criticizing China? Who elected China the watchdogs of Asia? Eh????

Well they qualify as their leader gained power in a suspicious election too

When did he gain power?

..two weeks ago...?!

X:72
In the year 1999 and seven months,
From the skies shall come an alarmingly powerful king,
To raise again the great King of the Jacquerie,
Before and after, Mars shall reign at will.

Now Jacquerie means a revolt, usually a blood one...but if you take the original french:

L'an mil neuf cens nonante neuf sept mois,
Du ciel viendra un grand Roy d'effrayeur,
Resusciter le grand Roy d'Angolmois,
Avant apres, Mars regner par bon heur.

Roy d'Angolmois is an anagram for "Roi de Mongulois" which means king of the Mongolians.

Just something I wanted to throw out there...because I'm bored.

I looked at that verse before, do you think "king" means the same now as it did then?

I'm a bit dubious about prophecy, does prophecy predict the future or create it?

Simply put, this is all written from HIS perspective. He doesn't understand things like nuclear weapons and all that shit, because he's from the 1600's.

Therefore king would mean monarch, in some form or shape.

he wrote 1000s of volumes, the fact that he got SOME things right only after heavy translation is a must, it would be mathematically impossible not to.

Look for my..I think, Silent Runners thread.

I don't remember what board it's in so you might have a little difficulty...and it's from some time ago, but it's still around since I checked it out about a month ago to give some info to someone from it.

Or maybe even a leader of a corporation...

Dunno, it's so open to interpretation