XI’S GOTTA HAVE IT: North Korea bans criticism of China as economic dependence grows due to pandemic. “Some North Koreans really dislike Chinese leadership for saying publicly that China is part of a ‘socialist brotherhood’ with North Korea, but Beijing does very little to support us even though we are living through economic hardship due to the coronavirus. Even the authorities in the past have been wary of our unconditional dependence on China and the expectations that they’ll take care of us, saying ‘Don’t trust China too much.’”

Indeed.