@WestRiverrat that is a very simplistic view of PRC’s relationship with NK. Since the so called Korean war (and first Taiwan crisis), North Korea has been China’s ally. It is a fellow “communist” state (though neither China nor NK are communist in the true sense of the word), but it is also a PR issue for the Chinese.
Secondly, the PRC believes in the non-interference in the matters of other nations, hence by default it will object to any actions taken by forein governments to change the status quo (a strategy well suited if one has issues with human rights violations themselves and wish others to leave them alone about it).
Thirdly, China needs to secure as much of the Chinese sea as possible if it is to proceed with its stupenduos development. It needs to do that to secure its oil imports and to better protect its coast, which after all is where most of the special economic zones are located. Better to have a… controversial ally up there then a pro-western, pro-Russian, or pro-Indian satellite and potential beach head for invasion. Nota bene, often when someone wanted to invade China they went through the area currently known as North Korea – that is why China supported NK in the Korean war in the first place – to secure its own borders.
Now consider NK is a nuclear power with one of the largest militaries in the world – who in their right mind is going to try and intervene there. China definitely has no incentive to destabilize its own borders, and the US cannot intervene because of the history there; Europe is too far away and too divided, the Middle East has its own problems right now, not sure about South America – anybody have a perspective on these guys?
In short neither the BRICS nor the USA and/or Europe (and NATO in general) has either the political and military resources to do anything concrete about N. Korea. Right now all we can hope for is IMHO that “the new guy” will see that his people are suffering needlessly, and fix the situation from within.