[Eric in the Ozarks]

Very little happens in NK without the PRC’s approval.

[AppyPappy]

“Very little happens in NK without the PRC’s approval.”

Actually, North Korea is more like China’s crazy brother who won’t get a job.

[Strategerist]

Very little happens in NK without the PRC’s approval.

We constantly made the mistake in the Cold War of assuming that the Soviet Union controlled everything in China, North Korea, or Vietnam; it's clearly been shown by history that they didn't.

The North Koreans are pretty independent; the Chinese help them to desperately avert the regime collapsing and having millions of refugees come across the border.