How close are the ties between Russia,China and North Korea?

Question

How close are the ties between the country's now?

Answer 1

They've never been particularly close. China and Russia had a falling out in mid-1950s, after Stalin's death. North Korean government has always been sensitive about dictate from either Moscow or Beijing, and there's some personal history behind it.

Kim Il-sung's family escaped to Manchuria in 1920. Kim has been a member of Communist Party of China since 1931 and fought against Japanese occupation in China. Eventually, luck turned against him, and in 1940 the Japanese army forced him and the remainder of his army to escape into Russia, where he eventually attained the rank of Red Army captain. He returned to Korea in September 1945 with the Soviet forces and was installed by the Soviets as head of the Provisional People's Committee. Once Kim consolidated his power base, he decided that following orders from either Moscow or Beijing was no longer necessary...