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.
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.
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Chad O'Carroll is the founder of NK News/NK Pro and related holding company Korea Risk Group. In addition to being the group's CEO, O'Carroll is a frequent writer and commentator about the Koreas, having written about the two nations since 2010. He has visited the DPRK multiple times, worked and lived in Washington, D.C. with a focus on peninsula issues, and lived in the ROK since 2016.