A state-run Chinese paper has quoted a Chinese academic as saying that North Korea started the Korean War with intentions to invade the South.
The Global Times, which is a sister paper of the Chinese Communist Party's official gazette, was quoting East China Normal University’s Professor Shen Zhihua on Friday.
In the interview, Shen said that late North Korean founder Kim Il-sung repeatedly asked for the approval of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong to use force to take South Korea.
Shen said that initially both Stalin and Mao rejected Kim's plan, as the Soviet Union didn't want to aggravate tensions with the U.S., and China was concentrating on its own reunification.
But in late January 1950, Shen said Stalin suddenly changed his mind and agreed to Kim's plan to undertake military operations against South Korea and Mao eventually agreed to support the North.
The Chinese government has never issued an official stance on which of the two Koreas started the Korean War. The Chinese describe the Korean War as a war in which China supported North Korea against the U.S.