>China is seeking to prevent instability that could prompt an influx of refugees crossing over the 880-mile (1,416-kilometer) border it shares with North Korea.
China accounted for 79 percent of North Korea’s 2009 international trade. China provides almost 90 percent of energy imports and 45 percent of the country’s food, the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations said in a 2009 report.
Exports to China, South Korea’s largest market, increased 16 percent to $129.8 billion in 2011 from a year ago, according to government data.