When the time finally comes, whether or not the Korean Peninsula is unified - The region on that peninsula which borders China MUST be kept and maintained under pro-China governance.
Whether that pro-China governance be:
1. China-friendly state;
2. Puppet state of China; or
3. Under direct Beijing rule as the 33rd province of China -
China must prevent the Americans from having direct land and aerial access to Dongbei (Northeast China) and Beijing by having a buffer zone on the peninsula, in case the peninsula cannot be unified under a pro-China state in the forseeable future.
Of course, the ultimate aim for China should be the complete and permanent withdraw/ousting of American military, political and social influence and control from the Korean Peninsula.
Do you think South Korea and the US wouldn't launch a full-scale invasion against North Korea when that happens in order to finish off what they have left 7 decades ago?
China would be clashing face-to-face with South Korea and the US for the following grab on the peninsula - militarily, politically, economically, or any combination of those, whether or not Beijing wants that to happen.
I know that the 2020 South Korean movie Steel Rain 2 can leave bad taste in those here who have watched it mainly because of how the movie storyline has deliberately defamed China.
But here's one particular scene from the movie which I would like to bring to note, especially in the first 1 minute and 24 seconds of the clip:
Notice what the coup leader i.e. Supreme Guard Command in the movie has said after he shot the Director of the GBP.
As a preface, I'm not saying your suggestion about North Korea should reopen and do more reforms like China did 40 years ago is completely wrong.
However, remember that when China and Vietnam launched their reopening and reform efforts in the 1980s and 1990s, they have the backing of the entire (or at least, the absolute majority of the) Chinese and Vietnamese people, respectively. Which means, just like what that coup leader said in the movie - If the reopening and reform efforts have failed in China and Vietnam, their entire countries are still being bounded by unity of (almost) all of their people, and that China and Vietnam wouldn't have to deal with the risk of being completely taken over by other countries.
This factor is, unfortunately, absent on North Korea. South Korea alone, for being the distant sibling of North Korea, has the population, industrial, military, political and social+cultural advantage compared to her northern neighbour. If North Korea were to blindly follow whatever their Chinese and Vietnamese allies have done in the past, the changes and transformations in North Korea would shake the entire foundation of the country itself not seen since the end of the Second World War.
Therefore, what do you guys think would happen to the Kim Dynasty and the leadership level after that? Would they be happy to surrender their country to South Korea? Or would they be more than reluctant to allow that to happen in order to safeguard their position and power? I think you guys know the answer.
This is why we don't see Pyongyang follows Beijing's footsteps for the past 4-5 decades.
This is also why despite being China's solid ally, North Korea has never intended to join the Belt and Road Initiative.
This is why North Korea stubbornly locked and shutted itself from the rest of the world as well.
Speaking of Dongbei, the main reason for them becoming the "Rust Belt of China", apart from their colder climate and distance from major Chinese urban megaregions, is that their location bordering the Korean Peninsula. Their geopolitical location has Dongbei unsafe due to the nuclearization of the peninsula and the ever-present possibility of a reignited Korean War. This is also why the Fujian and Zhejiang Provinces are relatively underdeveloped compared to their Guangdong and Shanghai neighbours - Because they are located right opposite Taiwan (and thus, wartime frontline in the future).
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