PRC and DPRK have completely different circumstances.

China spent decades avoiding antagonising the West and quietly developing its economy (Deng's "Lay low and develop the productive forces") to the point where Western economies were so dependent on China that they can't cut it down to size anymore. DPRK had no such potential as they were already severely sanctioned.

So while DPRK has been able to always be outspokenly on the right side of history, no other socialist state can match the PRC's ability to aid other states in their development, share potentially world-saving green energy solutions across the global South, stake a socialist presence on the moon and Mars which would otherwise be de facto American frontiers, and have its private sector take money from Western gamers and use it fund fusion power research.