Missile Tests Divide Seoul From Tokyo

China's support of North Korea promises to bring South Korea into it's sphere of influence while it turns away from it's old ally the US. Why should China discourage North Korea's actions? North Korea is quite effectively cutting off South Korea from US influence. South Korea minimizes the missile threat. Both South Korea and China keep the North supplied.
Meanwhile Japan is talking about pre-emptive strikes.
New York Times

Japan, which began shaking off its postwar pacifism after North Korea fired a long-range missile over its territory in 1998, has led the campaign to punish it for last week’s missile tests. In the last two days, Japanese officials have openly begun talking about whether Japan should acquire the military capacity to make pre-emptive strikes.


“South Korea is minimizing the threat, to manage the hawkish reaction from the United States and Japan,” said Lee Geun, a professor of international relations at Seoul National University who is a visiting professor at Kyushu University in Japan. “Japan is exaggerating the threat in order to pursue the goals of strengthening its self-defense forces and the U.S.-Japan alliance.”


To a great extent, though, the South’s insouciance about the North’s threat is the product of years of peaceful relations. As in 1994, when North Korea threatened to turn Seoul into a “sea of fire,” trouble with their northern cousins used to send South Koreans scurrying to buy up bottled water and instant noodles. But since last Wednesday retailers have reported no hoarding, no spike in sales of instant noodles.


[...]Washington’s opposition to engagement has stirred anti-American feelings here and a belief among some that the United States is standing in the way of reconciliation and eventual reunification.


[...]South Korea’s “whole North policy is predicated on some sort of long-term notion that somewhere through these sets of evolutionary policies that this will eventually get better,” Mr. Hill said. “Then this period of great tragedy can be put behind them. So when you have these moments that argue for the opposite, it’s just upsetting for people. And we just need to be aware of that.” MORE