[bilbo0s]

"...given how their leniency has allowed NK to develop ICBMs..."

The issue is that North Korea's atomic and missile programs were helped along by Russia. That's where the technical assistance all came from, at least initially. So China, and even the US for that matter, really had no way of stopping that. The Russian involvement is a fact that is generally glossed over by policy makers because there is little you can do to stop Russia.

What's surprising about the Trump belief that China could have stopped Russia, is what it says about Trump's foreign policy acumen. It betrays either Trump's lack of knowledge about the history of the North Korean program, or his naiveté with respect to the extent of China's power.

[lostlogin]

“After listening for 10 minutes, I realized it’s not so easy,” the president told the Journal. “I felt pretty strongly that they had a tremendous power [over] North Korea. ... But it’s not what you would think.” Trump.

https://www.google.co.nz/amp/s/www.vox.com/platform/amp/2017...

[acqq]

You're misinformed. North Korea got atomic bomb tech from Pakistan.