And the Chinese army reinforcements sent to Manchuria are only bank guards because they keep starving North Korean soldiers from crossing the Yalu, with weapons they've taken off base, to rob Manchurian banks so they can buy food.
What you call an army is three foodless days away from mutiny.
You're hitting on a good point, and the root of North Korea's collapse. Rigid, centralized hierarchies are rapidly eroded when discipline is unenforced.
Let's face it. North Korean enlisted men aren't cooking up these ideas. The penalty for doing such an act would be immediate and lethal, without some top cover.
Their company and field grade officers are okaying this. Not only that, but they're getting used to being able to do whatever they need to do to keep local control. Whether or not the central military commission is unable or unwilling to enforce discipline, the result will be the same.
Might the military central authorities, up to the executive level, be okaying this, or turning a blind eye? Possibly, but again, throwing out military discipline is a dangerous move. You might need it sometime. Even if these moves are directly ordered from on high, as a way to do some creative financing, it makes it clear just how desperate the situation in North Korea really is to everyone involved.
Ambitions military men could take advantage of such desperate situations, when the time comes.