The collapse of the North Korean system means the collapse of the total establishment of the state. This, in turn, means a breakdown of North Korea's ruling system, in short a state of anarchy deriving from a paralyzed central ruling system. Experts equate "a state of anarchy, or an overall paralysis of governing and administrative powers, compounded by a weakened concentration of military power," with North Korea's collapse.1 Yet, over the short term, one should not conclude that a North Korean collapse will necessarily be accompanied by an extensive disturbance among the people or a violent, bloody struggle of a small group of officers in the military.
If a North Korean collapse did not occur in a vacuum, one needs to think about how Kim Jong-il's monolithic system or Kim Jong-un's succession system collapsed. The reason is, the hereditary succession from Kim Il-sung to Kim Jong-il to Kim Jong-un can be likened to a monolithic theocratic dictatorship. If a Kim Jong-il−Kim Jong-un system broke down in a situation where no individual or group could possibly replace the Kim family rule, there must have been a process.