Either nuclear power North Korea hasn’t solved the ancientl mystery of the highway construction pilot vehicle or there’s more to the story than they’re telling us about the closure of a major bridge and highway link between China and North Korea.

The Chinese reportedly closed the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge, crossing the Yalu River at the Chinese city of Dandong due to road repairs being conducted on the North Korean approach road. The announcement made on Friday characterized it as a temporary closure.

Even if Kim Jong-un is crazy, he’s not stupid and the neither is the rest of the world. There’s no legitimate reason for him to force China to cut off access to his country merely to permit road repairs to be conducted.

Pilot vehicles are used around the globe to keep traffic moving during construction. There’s more to this than they’re letting on.

Is the move intended to keep Chinese citizens out of harm’s way in the event of a military conflict? Is this a signal that China takes that possibility as being increasingly likely?

There’s also the important symbolism that such a closure carries as well as the economic pressure of their main trading partner cutting off access. If China were to be following through on their pledge to work with the United States to bring North Korea to heel, this would be a logical step in that process.

The Chinese also have concerns of a potential flood of refugees in the event of conflict or other difficulties in Kim Jong-un’s regime. Cutting of the bridge at the choke point created by the formidable Yalu River would be a logical step in mitigating those concerns.

The road and bridge closure comes just three days after the state-owned airline, Air China, suspended operations between the cities of Beijing and Pyongyang. That action was reportedly in response to a lack of demand. If that is the case it speaks volumes to the worsening relations between the two nations.

If it is not the case and there actually still was significant traffic between the two capitals, it is even more indicative of a deteriorating situation. Coupled with international sanctions, these actions by China clearly indicate that the pressure is being increased on Kim Jong-un in ways which have not been previously seen.

He may be discovering this is no longer the all talk no action administration of Hussein Obama, and that this guy President Trump, in partnership with his Chinese counterpart President Xi, means business. Our strategic patience, a politically correct term for cowardly inaction, has finally run out.

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