Maybe more so than Americans, but less than Japanese and Chinese. Certainly S. Koreans are now far different from N. Koreans.
So-called experts advanced some theories on this issue. One of them is that N. Koreans had never been exposed to idea of freedom or democracy. For centuries, they lived under royal kingdom which venerated its king(but not to the same degree as Kim family gets.) It is followed by Japanese rule. Japanese emperor was a god-king and remained so until 1945. So they were exposed to stronger personality cult. Then came the rule of Stalinist country. After Stalin's death, N. Korea deliberately started to insulate herself from the rest of the world, including the fellow communist countries, in order to block the inflow of 'liberalizing' idea. Khrushchev's de-Stalinization was bad enough.
Along with it, there is an extensive system to suppress dissent. On top of typical totalitarian system of everybody spying on everybody else, they implemented a group punishment. If somebody commits a political crime, it is not just him who is punished. All of his extended family members are sent to prison camp for life where they will have slow painful death.
Communists in Korea exploited the fact that Koreans have unusually strong bond among family members. This was used to recruit more members. One family member became a communist, then it is easy to pull his family members in. They tend to band together to protect their own, so when the authorities look for him, family members hide or help him, easily making them accomplices. This can be used for the purpose of punishment. N. Koreans also have strong family bond. So the fear of family members being punished is a severe deterrent. Without it, they would have been more willing to rise up.
In addition, it has extreme indoctrination process from birth. As soon as children can walk and talk, they are drilled with the idea that Kim families are divine figures who can make miracles and solely responsible for their existence. People are systematically rewarded with their loyalty to the state. Here, family factors also come into play. It is not enough that you are loyal. Your extended family has to be ideologically clean going back to previous generations. If a distant uncle or grand uncle did something wrong or are from questionable background, there will be a limit to your advancement. At the least, you will be passed over in favor of somebody from loyal class background. On the flip side, if you are from loyal class background, you can rise to the position way beyond your capability.
They preemptively eliminate any source of potential dissent. N. Korea is a strictly feudal class society vastly strengthened by totalitarian apparatus, which especially exploits family bond to eradicate dissent and reward loyalty. Finally, N. Korean regime is willing to sacrifice everything else to preserve itself.
N. Korea was not like this initially. There were protests and riots against Soviet-installed Kim regime. Some people say that, when Korean War broke out, there was some demographic shuffling. Everybody who hates N. Korea fled to the South and vice versa. After the War, two Koreas became more homogeneous politically, as the argument goes. It may have been another factor.
There is another thing which can be taken into account. Koreans have a tendency to embrace a cultish group, short on doctrine and long on blind devotion and personality cult. You can see it among religious groups in S. Korea, mainstream or fringe. It is a little different than affinity to authority figure, but can make people more committed. Maybe it is another manifestation of strong personal family bond.
It's sad when that which is most noble and heroic is used by totalitarians to keep the boot grinding away on the faces of innocents. Thanks for taking the time to explain... The incentives to keep the system going are strong. Do you see any way to switch some of those incentives? Is there a way out?