With Kim’s escalating rhetoric about war with the South and the West, China needs its leverage to preserve peace in its backyard and cannot afford to be seen alienating its only treaty ally. This places China in a serious bind without any real options except to hope that the EU and U.

President-elect Donald Trump will face the challenge of a growing relationship between Russia and North Korea as the two countries strengthen security ties and nuclear capabilities. NBC News' Janis Mackey Frayer reports that Trump may need to cooperate with China as the region's superpower before Russia's fight against Ukraine expands to include more of Asia.