The deputy editor of an official Chinese publication has lost his job over an article he wrote late February for the Financial Times arguing that China should abandon North Korea.

In the op-ed piece on Feb. 27, Deng Yuwen wrote, "North Korea's third nuclear test is a good moment for China to re-evaluate its longstanding alliance with the Kim dynasty. For several reasons, Beijing should give up on Pyongyang and press for the reunification of the Korean peninsula."

Deng was the deputy editor of Study Times, the publication of the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China.

Deng told the Chosun Ilbo by telephone that the article cost him the job. "I was relieved of the position because of that article, and I'm suspended indefinitely. Although I'm still being paid by the company, I don't know when I will be given another position."

Deng said the Chinese Foreign Ministry was "very upset" by the article and made a call to the Central Party School to complain.

