Posted on November 4, 2009 in North Korea.

The Ilmin International Relations Institute at Korea University has released three new policy briefings on the future of North Korea. The first is by Lee Seo-Sook of the Korean National Defense University.

Lee writes:

North Korea’s governance process is characterized by a few distinctive features. First, the supreme leader’s power is excessively strong overall. In a situation where there is no institutional mechanism for keeping the supreme leader’s power in check, it is difficult for a governance process that is absolutely reliant on the supreme leader to have a competitive edge. Second, it is highly possible that state goals do not coincide with the demand for public service that the people want. In that case, resource distribution would be distorted, thus aggravating the state’s vulnerability. Third, private-sector actors are nonexistent, and fair competition and sufficient checks among state organs are difficult, possibly curtailing North Korea’s governance capability.”

Download the entire briefing here.