Predicting North Korea’s collapse has for decades been a popular topic among pundits and specialists worldwide – albeit normally one of subsequent embarrassment when things don’t go quite as thought.

Milestone events like the death of Kim Il Sung in 1994 and Kim Jong Il in 2011 led many observers to believe a collapse was imminent, but North Korea’s rugged persistence continues to show just how little the outside world really knows.

Was the stunning execution of Jang Song Thaek in December last year really the game-changing event some suggested, or is the dawn of