This is one of the reasons China can’t exert too much pressure on NK. Putin’s Russia has been longing for the good ol’ days of the Soviet Union, and if China turns the thumbscrews on the Kim regime, NK could really start kissing up to Russia, offering rare earth minerals and cross-country railroad rights in exchange for a return of Russian patron aid and perhaps a resumption of the military security arrangement they had before 1990. This would put NK under the military protection of Russia, to include a nuclear umbrella similar to the one provided by the U.S. to the ROK. China doesn’t want that.
This is one of the reasons China can’t exert too much pressure on NK. Putin’s Russia has been longing for the good ol’ days of the Soviet Union, and if China turns the thumbscrews on the Kim regime, NK could really start kissing up to Russia, offering rare earth minerals and cross-country railroad rights in exchange for a return of Russian patron aid and perhaps a resumption of the military security arrangement they had before 1990. This would put NK under the military protection of Russia, to include a nuclear umbrella similar to the one provided by the U.S. to the ROK. China doesn’t want that.