WPS 08-9: Alliance of “Tooth and Lips” or Marriage of Convenience? The Origins and Development of the Sino-North Korean Alliance, 1946-1958, by Shen Zhi-Hua (December 2008). In this paper, Prof. Shen traces the development of Sino-North Korean relations and challenges the “tooth and lips” myth often purported as the basis of their alliance, offering instead, more pragmatic roots for their close relations.