I suspect Fattie the Third is playing a different game than you think, and he is in fact winning
He tosses clunker missiles out in the ocean in the direction of Japan and the Phillipines, US aligned countries, to get everyone's attention. But the warheads are directed towards China
He kinda reminds like when the mob walks into a shop and says what a shame it would be if somebody were to come in and bust up such a nice place.
If the Kim regime falls, it's only a matter of time until the South exerts control over the entire Korean peninsula and China has a nuclear armed American ally on their border
Dude's running a nuclear protection racket on the Chinese.