Editor’s note: This is the second in Andrei Lankov’s series on unification scenarios. To see the first installment click here.

As we have said before, all attempts to predict the future are liable to result in error. Be that as it may, there seem to be three likely futures in store for North Korea.

First, it is not impossible that Kim Jong Un (or perhaps even some other member of the North Korean elite) will manage to follow the path trodden by a number of East Asian countries over the last 70 years – the