April 23, 2024
Features

A non-Kim junta: a rarely discussed scenario for the future of N. Korea

Could a coup depose the Paektu bloodline - and keep the DPRK intact?

When one talks about the future of North Korea, one usually discusses the Korean peninsula unified by Seoul. Less often, people talk about the DPRK being invaded and ruled by China. And, of course, there is the possibility of the country still being ruled by the Kims in the 2050s. 

But here I would like to examine another scenario, in which Kim Jong Un is overthrown by a coup but North Korea survives as a separate country. So let us suppose that it happened: Kim is dead and the power is given to, let us say, General X. How will this man proceed? And how would North Korea fare under the rule of a non-member of the Paektu bloodline?

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