Joe,
Yes, China would probably get the North of the North (of the north of the north ;^) as a concession.

Yes, you're right that DPRK citizenry might simply not care enough about the "Dear Leader" to fight and die for him. After all, their food comes mostly from private markets, and not state distro systems anymore.

And now that you mention it, I doubt Kim would trust his own people enough to open up the caches and hand out the AKs even in case of invasion.

Perhaps the real-life scenario would be somewhere in the middle? Most DPRK forces falling rather quick, and a not-insignificant number of well equipped, determined holdouts spread around the country in bunkers and loyalist areas?

This document is 20 years old, https://fas.org/nuke/guide/dprk/nkor.pdf but it's a USMC manual on DPRK equipment, troop positions, strategy, etc. Basically they concentrate 75% of their forces near the 38th parallel, which leaves them open to an invasion from behind. Except China is behind, and they have a very dense air defense network even for modern aircraft to penetrate.

Hopefully we avoid violence though and work with China if it comes to toppling Mr. Un, I agree that the people of the DPRK deserve better, but the price to us has to be worth it for us to make the required sacrifices.

Got a link to an article or something on the parasite-ridden defector? I'm always interested in those people... interesting stories they tell!

-Cheers!