RE: NK would be a burden for South Korea (at least initially).
Is it possible to follow the East-West German model post unification?
Interesting question. In that scenario, the people being reunified WANTED to be reunified. They were essentially prisoners of the communist conquest following WWII. They knew freedom existed on the other side of the wall. Hell, they could see it from rooftops. They knew what was going on. The people of NK are in the dark. They have been born, bred, programmed and educated to conform and hate all else, especially the USA and South Korea. How the people of NK would react is likely anybody's guess. Would they stream into the south like panicked refugees hoping to be free? Or would they attack and pillage like starving animals?
Brutal dictators save money by reducing the population they have to feed. That is gruesome and ugly. But it's not as uncommon as folks think. It's a good bet NK has been successful in finding all those with dreams of freedom and eliminating them. What of the population is left. We can hope, based on some defectors that have escaped that there are those who know better. But can they lead an ignorant mass of peasants? I can't imagine where they would start to try to unify North and South Korea. But if China took over, the people would still be better off and not know there was a difference.