[mcguire]

"It doesn't want a true humanitarian disaster on scales rarely seen before in history."

The entire population of North Korea is about 25 million people. Famine during the "Great Leap Forward" killed somewhere between 15 and 55 million people, while 3-5 million died by violence. You can't make an omelette in China without killing a million people.

China does not want Korean refugees. And North Korea is a dandy client state to have around. But pulling the plug on North Korea wouldn't be a disaster on scales seen in the last century.