The following analysis was written by Thomas Schäfer, the former German ambassador to North Korea from 2007 to 2010 and from 2013 to 2018.

North Korean propaganda depicts the country as a hierarchical state whose leader, Kim Jong Un, sets the course as supreme ruler while perfectly embodying the will of the nation’s people, official party, armed forces and god-like predecessors Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. 

The reality is different. Diverging political views were already apparent in Kim Jong Il’s time. In the years of transition to Kim Jong Un, they led to infighting