I buy it. He is surrounded by people that are devoted to him. He's had people killed. Family members. Ex-wife. If you are a general and you fall asleep during one of his windbag speeches, a shot to the head.
All of that is ancient history now. I guarantee you, NK is either going to unify with SK or become it’s own successful country. They are sitting on trillions of dollars worth of rare and precious metals, by the way.