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China's support for a recent United Nations resolution against North Korea's missile tests might have been prompted by the possibility of a nuclear-weapons experiment by Pyongyang, according to an Australian scholar on Saturday.

On July 5, North Korea test-fired seven ballistic missiles, defying a chorus of international warnings. The U.N. Security Council, with the backing of China and Russia, unanimously passed the resolution, banning its member nations from transferring missile-related technology and materials to North Korea.

China is North Korea's largest trading partner and strongest ally. Some experts say Beijing might have lost patience with Pyongyang after the missile tests.

"In my view, the only factor that would have led China to support such a condemnatory resolution at the Security Council would have been advance notice by the DPRK that intended to test a nuclear weapon, or unambiguous intelligence received by China to the same effect," said the scholar, Peter Hayes of the U.S.-based think tank Nautilus Institute.

DPRK is the acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"Thus, the DPRK appears to have collided head-on with the Chinese, its primary backer in terms of food and oil supply," the Australian scholar said in his article posted on the institute's web site.

"This is a startling development and a matter of great joy in conservative and hard-line anti-DPRK circles in Washington and Tokyo," Hayes said. "What could possibly explain this momentous shift?" Since last November, North Korea has boycotted multinational talks aimed at diplomatically persuading Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons program, citing U.S.-led sanctions against the communist state's alleged financial wrongdoing.

So far, there has been no sign that the six-party talks, involving the two Koreas, China, Russia, Japan and the U.S., will resume.

On Saturday night (Korean time), South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao agreed to strengthen diplomatic efforts to ease tensions from North Korea's missile tests.

During a 30-minute telephone discussion, the two leaders also expressed "serious concerns" over mounting tensions in the region, the South Korean presidential office said.
Washington, July 22 (Yonhap News)