And NK would hold it's nukes in reserve so as to use them in case it needs another bargaining chip.
his generals know once shooting starts its the regimes death sentence.
Not buying that either.
The last shooting war did not end with the end of that government. - far from it, and we threw near everything that we had except nukes.
The Chicoms were the wild card, and they would be again.
No Chinese government would allow massive intervention by us to occur without a large and nasty response.
That's because the North Korean border is just a hop, skip and a few day's tank drive from Beijing. If they lose the North Korean buffer, there's nothing between their capital and us. It's really the same calculus that got Mao involved in the 1950's.
North Korea has some great opening moves, and no logistical staying power. The DMZ will be an unholy meatgrinder, Seoul will be laid in ruins, and the north will run out of steam. Everyone knows this. It's just a matter of weeks. Which means that while the DMZ is on fire, China can either wait for us to prevail and make our way to their border, or they can push down to Pyongyang and 'help us out' by seizing North Korea themselves.
All internet bravado aside, China doesn't want to fight us, and we don't want to fight them. Still, if we had to endure unparalleled carnage on the north/south border, while the Chinese 'humanitarian / stabilization force' rolled in the back, took the country unopposed and then declared peace, if would be a hard thing for us to stomach.
It ain't 1950. If China gets involved this time, they'll be 'on our side', and the DPRK will fall. The ROK and the US will pay a terrible price for an easy Chinese victory.