IMJINGAK, SOUTH KOREA –  North Korean defectors gathered  just south of  the tense border between North and South Korea Tuesday.    They sent aloft balloons carrying political messages and American dollars to those on the other side.

Sang Hak Park fled Pyongyang ten years ago.

“We are here to let the people of North Korea know,” he said “ the truth behind Kim Jong Il’s brutality and killing of civilians.”

On South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island, which was the scene a week ago of North Korea’s killing of civilians and soldiers, security was beefed up.

And in the Yellow Sea, joint US/South Korean naval exercises continue.

Today’s drill: Intercepting ships carrying suspect payloads.

Also “intercepted”and released by Wikileaks, diplomatic cables offering new insights  into the relationship between North Korea and its main ally China.

One Chinese official is said to have called North Korea’s behavior that of a “spoiled child.”

And a South Korean official claimed China would be “comfortable” with a united  Korea…that would be friendly to the US, but not hostile to Beijing.

Still, experts today said it’s unlikely  China would accept unification in the near term but a shift in  Beijing’s attitude was acknowledged:
“North Korea has become more a liability to Beijing than an asset,” Kyong Soo Lho, Chairman of South Korea’s Asia Society told us, “the younger generation of leaders there realizes this.”

In Beijing , a top envoy from Pyongyang made the rounds.  China is calling for the re-start of 6 party talks to cover various North Korea-related issues.

South Korea, Japan and the US are not yet accepting this.  But officials from all three will meet next week in Washington.

For now, at least, Seoul and Washington are letting their militaries do the “talking”…and nudging.

“Part of the inducement are the military exercises,” the Asia Society’s Lho added, “We are showing great restraint but it is also a show of force.”

Hopefully for the region that “force” won’t have to be used.