Well, time for a quick and dirty history lesson then:
-during the cold war, when the sino-soviet split occurred the DPRK did side with the soviets for the most part (while they did play both the USSR & PRC against each other they did side with the former more than the latter)
-the PRC was/is "backing" the DPRK (though more like a sugardaddy to a cracy crackwhore kind of relationship) in terms of trade (like this was/is a major point of contention among USA & Japan trying to get the PRC to stop at various points. The PRC being one of the few countries willing to buy DPRK coal) and food aid. Not to mention the PRC has consistently declare that they will defend the DPRK in the event of them being attacked first (in theory). However it was far less of a backing than most think, more like barely tolerating them and liking the alternatives even less. The entirety of the 90s was the DPRK in a freefall due to no one really backing them.