[ek_hornbeck]

North Korea is nothing but a liability to China at this point, so if push comes to shove between NK and the US, China will do nothing to support NK except perhaps some lip-service.

China started moving away from the Maoist economics in the late 70's, while North Korea continued to entrench its version of Maoism. Today China isn't Communist/Maoist in anything but name, so it has no ideological reason to support North Korea. Economically, it has even fewer reasons to do so: China needs the US and the West as a buyer for its cheap goods and as a source of hard currency bonds, it doesn't need North Korea for anything.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

"it doesn't need North Korea for anything."

There is one reason it needs North Korea. The same reason it's been willing to put up with these shenanigans all these years. That is it does not want a Korean reunification or a democratically elected government in the North. The fear is having a U.S. allay on it's borders. North Korea is their buffer.