Many Americans did not take North Korea’s threat to bomb Guam seriously, even though they know dictator Kim Jong Un is unpredictable. United States officials undoubtedly were ready to react if the threat played out.North Korea issued a statement saying that Kim decided not to fire on Guam, but could change his mind “if the Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions.” Those words were a “save your face” statement.We will never know if China had anything to do with North Korea backing down on its threat. The U.S. and China have been in discussions about what to do about North Korea. Each has been pushing the other to handle it.China has agreed to additional sanctions against North Korea and said it will ban imports of coal, iron and seafood from the rogue country. Sounds good, but there is no way to know that China won’t cheat on the sanctions. It is known North Korea has exported items to other countries, which in turn sell them to China.North Korea knows that without help from China it would be doomed if it begins a shootout. China helped North Korea in 1950, but it was a costly adventure with United Nation forces, chiefly the U.S., chasing the invaders out of South Korea.