[MeganC]

North Korea is sitting on an estimated treasure trove of rare earth metals worth more than $20 TRILLION dollars.

Meaning that the expensive part of reunification will be the war that China is going to wage to try to keep control of those resources.

Aside from China the Korean reunification will pay for itself.

[Snickering Hound]

Meaning that the expensive part of reunification will be the war that China is going to wage to try to keep control of those resources.

Exactly. And China wouldn't be thrilled sharing a border with a Westernish democracy either.

[Biggirl]

China will have to look for its own metals at home.

[TiGuy22]

I think the real issue is that little rocket man is going to want to keep power. Might have to carve out NK being a territory of SK with rocket un as governor for life.

[2ndDivisionVet]

China won’t get in war with the United States. We have about 40X more nuclear weapons than they do.

[Rockingham]

North Korea's mineral resources are a key deal point missed by many analysts. Moreover, North Korea's regime is undergoing an accelerating process of decomposition in which public access to information and black market goods have led to a loss of legitimacy, public disobedience, and a corrosive level of corruption that extends even to the secret police. Lack of cash, fuel, and other resources are also causing rapid North Korean military decline as training, maintenance, and modernization are curtailed even for frontline units.

China now realizes that even with nuclear weapons, the Kim regime is likely to collapse in a few years at most and to leave an impossible and dangerous mess on China's doorstep. Kim has been told to accept China's assistance and to make a deal with the Americans and South Korea or to expect further economic pressure and likely ouster. And so we will have negotiations.

The massive North Korean mineral deposits are the dowry that makes a deal not just possible but attractive. Kim though will have to not just open up to foreign investment and exploitation of North Korea's mineral wealth, but he will also have to change his regime so that it will survive despite losing its nuclear fangs. Who better to make a deal for North Korea's mineral wealth and regime renovation than a tough businessman who made his fortune renovating and building iconic New York properties -- and then went on to become a TV star and US President?