“The advantage to China is the immediate and enormous cost to the South of reunification.”
Don’t underestimate the South’s ability simply to refuse more than minimal humanitarian aid.
Koreans are hard as nails.
You're certainly right about that. I can attest to it personally.
It would be a sweet thing to march a gaggle of the insufferable Korean leftwing college student population up to their Workers' Paradise and make them clean the place up themselves. Ever met any of those kids? The ROK Marines I met hate them with a passion.