Kim Jong-un's Main Weakness Lies In His Inner Circle
- 31.10.2026, 10:44
The loyalty of North Korean officials rests on an unreliable incentive.
Dissatisfaction is growing among high-ranking North Korean officials, military officers, and diplomats, while a show of loyalty to the leadership is increasingly becoming a means of survival. That said, it is still too early to speak of the imminent collapse of Kim Jong Un’s regime. A system of surveillance and mutual distrust prevents those who are dissatisfied from uniting. This is the conclusion reached by researcher Ji Eun-baek in an article for the magazine Foreign Affairs.
According to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, by August 2024, the number of defectors from the upper echelons of North Korean society under Kim Jong-un had exceeded, by a factor of 2.5 times the total number during the reigns of his father Kim Jong-il and his grandfather Kim Il-sung. However, this figure amounts to only a few hundred people.
A privileged position does not protect those close to the leader from repression. Officials receive expensive apartments, access to overseas travel, and a good education for their children, but their careers—and even their lives—depend on the leader’s whim. The execution of Kim Jong-un’s uncle—Jang Song-thaek—in 2013 showed the elite that no one is untouchable.
“The closer you are to the sun, the greater the chance of getting burned,” goes a common saying in Pyongyang.
After overseas trips, diplomats and officials undergo vetting, disclose their contacts, and must report even minor violations. Relatives of employees sent abroad effectively become hostages: they are left in North Korea to prevent escape.
At the same time, the interests of young members of the elite are shifting. They increasingly prefer business, technical professions, and education abroad to careers in the party or the military. Money and connections are gradually becoming more important than political titles.
However, officials do not dare to speak out against the authorities collectively. “We all know, but we just don’t talk about it,” is how one former high-ranking official described the atmosphere among the leadership.
This situation could become most dangerous for the regime during a serious crisis, when officials who today demonstrate loyalty might refuse to carry out orders or switch sides to join Kim Jong-un’s rivals.