“They don’t exist without China. Since The Korean War the chicoms have said jump and the norks have said how high. They would only be doing this on China’s orders.”
None of those statements are true. Although the person known as Kim-Il-Sung, whether authentic or an impostor as suggested by some Soviets, was once a member of the Chinese Communist Party, he was ultimately a Major in the Soviet Red Army when the Soviets installed him as the leader of the Communist DPRK. The DPRK was subsequently heavily modeled after the Stalinist Soviet government and military. Although the PRC (People’s Republic of China) committed itself to the Korean War as an ally of the Soviet Union, this was before the PRC and USSR split over the dispute about who and how Communism was to proceed and be led. The DPRK subsequently has palyed the PRC and the USSR/Russia against each other for influence in DPRK affairs, which has further soured relations between the PRC and DPRK. The DPRK renouncement of Communism and adoption of Juche and the cult of personality of the Kim family has further troubled relations between the PRC and DPRK. aT THIS POINT THE prc would prefer to see the deposing of the Kim regime and a restoration of a Communist Party along the lines of the current Chineese model and fully dependent upon the PRC and Chinese Communist party for policy leadership in international affairs. This is why the Kim regime has been purging senior officers to discourage a Chinese inspired change of leadership by senior DPRK officers during the recent famines.
Yes, the DPRK is heavily indebted to the PRC for diplomatic support and help in evading the internaiotnal trade sanctons in arms and other goods, but the PRC is viewed by the Kim regime as a threat to his control of the DPRK. Heence the PRC influence is limited in scopee and direction to the favors desired by the Kim regime. This is another reason why the DPRK reached out to iran and other potential allies such as Pakistan to lessen its dependency upon the PRC and replace some of the lost resources which came from the former Soviet Union. The DPRK is very much a Hermit Kingddom acting on its own volition to the extent of which its dependencies upon its allies and benefactors allow.
The norks don't have the technology or resources to build a bicycle or to feed itself yet they seem to have the technology and resources to build nuclear weapons and possibly putting one in polar orbit.
Someone is feeding them and giving them the technical expertise to build these weapons.
Someone is helping them avoid sanctions.
I suggest that "someone" is China.