The wildcard might be his sister. Apparently she and rocket boy are very close and she holds some power in his government. How much is up to debate.
She could be a moderating force that keeps lil’ Kim just this side of full on koo koo.
She could also be one who keeps the generals in line.
Or she could be the one pulling kimmies strings and making his do his crazy act.
A couple of things about a coup.
The Kim family has assumed the status of god-hood. The average citizen believes it and can conceive of nothing else.
How do you replace a god?
Can a god be assassinated?
Can a god be imprisoned?
Lose the god and lose the nation. What remains of their society would collapse and be more unstable than now.
Funny thing about elites the world over is they never believe they will be the one who go against the wall for the firing squad.
The man (or woman) who rats out someone today determines to be more vigilant than those they replace, thinking their vigilance will protect them. Until it doesn’t.
Stalin used the same tactics to keep himself in power.
Between a starving populace, a hungry military and the select well fed elites lil’ Kim is safe from a domestic coup.
Maybe, just maybe, China could intervene and depose lil’ Kim and replace him with his sister. That is probably the best bet at this time.
If Kimmie gets a hint of an idea that might happen then sis is dog chow.
When thinking about North Korea I keep two things in mind.
1. “East is east, west is west and ne’er the twain shall meet.”
The eastern and western minds (especially Americans) don’t think alike and are basically foreign to each other.
2. In North Korea there are too many unknown unknowns.
Deposing gods has been done. Remember Caligula? The Japanese emperor god, being neither an idiot nor mad, deposed himself. Also, since you’re quoting Kipling, remember The Man Who Would Be King? Once they discover their god can bleed, he gets demoted pdq. His sister, a military coup, whatever. It can be done. It should be done. If he gets to launch armed ICBMs anywhere he wants, and he’s nuts, well, things can only get worse if nothing’s done. And launching them preemptively at Pyongyang is a lousy option if you live in Seoul or Tokyo or Guam, and if it pisses off China, who have their own arsenal.