One thing about North Korea is worth bringing up. They are sitting on a gold mine of rare earth elements (REEs). North Korea has allowed very little surveying to be done but covert satellite surveying by the West had identified areas of likely REE deposits. Very recently, Chinese surveyors were allowed into the country and they confirmed that there are large REE deposits available for exploitation.
China has been the world supplier of many REEs for the last few decades but they have been very canny with managing supply & demand specifically to keep the price in their favour. They would love to "manage" the North Korean (NorK) deposits to ensure a continuing Chinese monopoly.
This has the potential to make North Korea a very rich country - but we already know where most of the money goes so the possibility is that they will become more heavily armed but with better weaponry.
In terms of a game storyline, perhaps China has been exploiting the NorK REE deposits for many years and paying the NorKs for the privilege with food, weapons and lower level Chinese technology. This would give them a far greater threat level when it comes to any invasion of South Korea.
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