Kim Jong Un is now China's launch button

[Effete Snob]

If China wants to launch an attack on US aligned interests in east Asia, all they have to do is assassinate Kim Jong Un.

They can even deny it was them.

[Chainfire]

1. Is that called plausible deniability?

Of course, missiles launched in response to a nuclear strike can sometimes go astray and mistake Beijing for P'yŏngyang. Chalk it up to **** happens. Once the first arrow flies, the genii would be out of the bottle all over the world, and everyone knows it. I don't think that there could ever be a "limited nuclear strike." We could all be a part of a great historical event that would echo through the empty halls of history.

[Irish_Dem]

2. I don't know if China is thrilled about NK mouthing off all the time in such dangerous ways.

If you look at a map, you can see why:

Pyongyang NK and mainland China are separated by the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea.

Pyongyang is about 500 miles from Beijing, China's highly respected capital.
And about 600 miles from Shanghai, China's jewel in the crown financial center.

If the US were to start sending nuclear missiles to North Korea, they might end up dangerously close to
Beijing or Shanghai.

And to make matters worse every time Kim Jong Un mouths off, we send U.S. Navy nuclear submarines to the Yellow Sea and East China Sea near China. We know this because Trump has blabbed this information much to the dismay of the Pentagon. China most certainly is not happy about US boomers skulking around off the coast of China.

I think perhaps China sees NK as a pain in the ass poor relative who might get them killed.