[DW] For decades, politicians, policy experts and analysts have been predicting the imminent implosion of the North Korean regime, either as a result of economic collapse, external pressures, or a military coup to replace the Kim family as hereditary head of state. | The experts only have to be right once... |
Yet, successive members of the Kim clan have defied the crises and predictions to cling on to power.
Today, however, North Korea faces arguably the toughest test of "juche," its official political ideology of self-reliance that was dreamed up by Kim Il-sung, the first head of the nation and grandfather of present leader Kim
PudgeJong-un
...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished...
There are some who believe that Kim Jong-un - young and inexperienced in his role - has made too many mistakes since he inherited the nation in December 2011, and alienated too many of the people close to the regime that he should have looked to for support and advice.
Equally, his people are growing increasingly aware of life beyond North Korea's borders, thanks to mobile communications and movies from South Korea and the West that are smuggled into the country.
And in trying to be the "strong man" of northeast Asia, and demanding respect through tests of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, Kim has even forced former allies to reassess their relationships with Pyongyang.
On April 9, the South Korean government announced that 13 employees of a North Korean restaurant in China had defected to Seoul. Rah Jong-yil, a former head of South Korean intelligence, said 13 defectors might not appear significant, but he believes it is an indicator of things to come.
"This is a very revealing development and, I believe, shows us the state of the morale of people in Pyongyang," he told DW.