The relationship between Beijing and Pyongyang has been obvious since President Trump took office in 2017 and began a series of sunlight diplomacy drops. What President Trump exposed was the level of control China holds over North Korea. Essentially, Kim Jong-Un is a hostage to Chairman Xi Jinping with little control over the military aspects of the DPRK.
When this baseline forms the forward analysis, the paradigm of historic western engagement with North Korea takes on an entire new dimension.
If China controls North Korea, specifically the functional leadership within the military, then all military action is essentially not from North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, but rather controlled and positioned by Chairman Xi.
As a downstream consequence the issue of North Korean nuclear weapons is essentially moot. Of course the DPRK has nuclear weapon capability, those weapons would come from China and be controlled by Beijing.
Accept the DPRK as a proxy province to China and the issues look completely different. We can debate the level of Beijing’s control, but it is certainly evident the military -which is essentially the important part of the DPRK government- receives instructions from China, not from Kim. Chairman Kim Jong-un is essentially riding a dragon he does not control. That was the subtle diplomacy visible inside the relationship as expressed between President Trump and Chairman Kim.
