Question. Why is North Korea so stable?

[CopiousX]

It really confuses me why they haven't faced the usual coups and revolts that most of the new countries of the 60s faced. Many of those countries were both dictatorships and communist, with many of the same restrictions as NK, but still had civil strife. Cambodia and Khmer rouge come to mind.



Surely, there is some general who wants the throne, right? I mean defecting military people have admitted to being paid peanuts to be in the north Korean army. Surely, there is friction due to this, right?




Surely , some charismatic civilian has a differing opinion on true communism ? I'm sure the American 3-letter agencies can help such a person



There must be some businesspeople who are tired of sucking up to kim, right? I know there are rich north Koreans who contract slaves to China and handle coal exports. Where is their jack ma, standing up to the Korean communist party out of greed?


And even if these third parties don't cause unrest, there must be successors or spouses who would do the same thing also . For example, immediately after Mao's death; his own wife in China ran a coup and tried to take over in a January 6 style of attempt.




I find it hard to believe that North Korea alone has cracked the code to regime stability when literally no one else out of their communist, dictator cohort could do the same.

 

[Gains]

Kim willing to have his own family members killed

 

[987654321]

Culture, isolation, and fear have a lot to do with it. In the past they grew up thinking their leader was like a deity. There isn’t any outside influence, so they can’t really tell if the grass is greener, or not, on the other side. There’s also the reality that they can be plucked away from existence over something anyone else would perceive as a tiny annoyance.

 

[TheWiseWon]

"Food availability has likely fallen below the bare minimum with regard to human needs, and on one metric, is at its worst since the country’s famine in the 1990s."

"The evidence presented thus far points to a significant deterioration in living conditions and an ongoing complex humanitarian emergency with food insecurity at its core."

Food Insecurity in North Korea Is at Its Worst Since the 1990s Famine - 38 North: Informed Analysis of North Korea

North Korea is dealing with a complex humanitarian emergency that has food insecurity at its core.[1] As of August 2022,…

www.38north.org

This does not touch on executions, imprisonment, electrical grid failures, refugee conditions, etc. North Korea has not cracked anything but the will of its people.

 

[ChatGPT-5]

reminds me of the movie Equilibrium

 

[the cac mamba]

because there's no second amendment

and i say that as someone who hates guns, and will never own one myself. there's no better example of a thoroughly cucked and unarmed people than north koreans

 

[WIA20XX]

Authoritarian Rule at it's finest.

Not that I blame Kim, given the war killed 3 million Koreans, 1/2 of the civilians, I'd want some Nuclear Deterrence as well.

 

[Geek Nasty]

Kim willing to have his own family members killed

Yeah when he took over he killed off a ton of people. I remember reading rumors that there might be a coup right after he took over, he squashed all that with the quickness.

 

[MAKAVELI25]

because there's no second amendment

and i say that as someone who hates guns, and will never own one myself. there's no better example of a thoroughly cucked and unarmed people than north koreans

I would like to think you're joking. But you've made dumber and less nuanced observations than this before.

 

[the cac mamba]

I would like to think you're joking. But you've made dumber and less nuanced observations than this before.

if north koreans were armed like americans, you think kim jong un is still doing the shyt he does to them?

aren't you not allowed to leave north korea? i don't know, breh. i don't see an armed, self respecting populace putting up with that shyt

 

[voiture]

This is what they do to those who propose reform

In Hail of Bullets and Fire, North Korea Killed Official Who Wanted Reform​

In Hail of Bullets and Fire, North Korea Killed Official Who Wanted Reform (Published 2016)

A biography of Jang Song-thaek, the uncle of North Korea’s leader, depicts a reformist political fixture who became the most famous victim of his nephew’s purges.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Baka's Weird Case]

i dont think its surprising why the average citizens havent done anything. i do think its unusual there havent been more coup attempts from the higher-ranking officers.

my guess is that because we have much less access to information from north korea than other countries, there have been coup attempts that were covered up.

 

[Studious one]

"Food availability has likely fallen below the bare minimum with regard to human needs, and on one metric, is at its worst since the country’s famine in the 1990s."

"The evidence presented thus far points to a significant deterioration in living conditions and an ongoing complex humanitarian emergency with food insecurity at its core."

Food Insecurity in North Korea Is at Its Worst Since the 1990s Famine - 38 North: Informed Analysis of North Korea

North Korea is dealing with a complex humanitarian emergency that has food insecurity at its core.[1] As of August 2022,…

www.38north.org

This does not touch on executions, imprisonment, electrical grid failures, refugee conditions, etc. North Korea has not cracked anything but the will of its people.

What a fitting username!

 

[ADevilYouKhow]

I don’t think stable is the word you’re looking for… NK and its people are extremely isolated geographically. I watched a video recently explaining that the people can’t even escape through China or Russia anymore.

 

[Chronic]

if north koreans were armed like americans, you think kim jong un is still doing the shyt he does to them?

aren't you not allowed to leave north korea? i don't know, breh. i don't see an armed, self respecting populace putting up with that shyt

China used to distribute millions of rifles, grenades and mortars to rural villages so they could form guerillas bands if Soviet invade them. The number is even higher if you count the weapons that got looted from armories by the Red Guards during Cultural Revolution. But even after Tiananmen they never rise against CCP. Instead they got used to settle personal scores like when several villages fighting each other with rifles and artilleries over land disputes. Armed police had to come and disarm the warring parties and China introduced stricter firearm laws.