Are North Korea and China really allies?

We have a habit of thinking of China and North Korea as allies. Indeed, China’s Mao Zedong once described the two as being “as close as lips and teeth.”

North Korea is the only country with which China has a mutual defense treaty. China demonstrated its support by committing massive Chinese military formations to assist North Korea during the Korean War, and as a result suffered half a million soldiers killed or wounded, including the death of Mao’s son and potential heir.

All these decades later, the China-North Korea relationship is a key element of the developing the Russia-China-North Korea imperialist partnership.