He may be a brat, but he is not controlled by china. If he was, he wouldn't have nuclear weapons. But he is still valuable to china. It's not just the Chinese don't want millions of refugees. That's just a face saving excuse for propping up a despotic regime in the name of humanitarianism. The fear of flood of refugees is not completely fictitious. But china could easily seal the border.
The real reason even a recalcitrant North Korea is valuable to china is simply it saves china the expense and bad publicity of occupying party of Korea while still securely keeping the Americans far away.
The real reason even a recalcitrant North Korea is valuable to china is simply it saves china the expense and bad publicity of occupying party of Korea while still securely keeping the Americans far away.