Don't forget that China has starving population also. They are constantly dealing with violent unrest and probably do not want another flood of hungry people streaming to their country for bowls of rice.
We forget that America is generally a land of plenty, even for the poorest among us. China probably does not want to invest one soldiers life in anything going on in NK as long as the problems stay there. They are looking at this latest escalation and imagining the conflict dragging them into it and costing them more than they can afford.
Just my 2 cents.
“They do honestly fear the wave of refugees, but they can go to hell for enabling it.”
There are several reasons why China continues to prop NK up:
1. They dislike the idea of a unified, US-backed Korea on their border.
2. Ideological reasons. North Korea is one of the few remaining communist states.
3. China doesn’t want a million refugees pouring across its border.
4. North Korea is useful to keep around for annoying the US whenever we complain about China’s trade practices.
Netflix currently has on their streaming video a National Geographic about North Korea. It’s well worth the watching to see how propaganda and utter fear have affected the population alone. We watched it today.
Thank you for the link to the “Vice Guide to NK”. OMG. They are ‘Crazyland’! Huge army, no electricity, little food, no cars. They are certifiably insane.
My favorite part was when they’re at the huge, empty restaurant, obviously a Potemkin, and all they can rustle up for a main dish is some ox knuckle.