N Korean elite trying to flee country

"There's no Liu Shaoqi (劉少奇) or Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平)," said Cui, an ethnic Korean Chinese, referring to Chinese leaders at the time who could have challenged Mao. "Other than Kim, it's like the Number 2, 3, 4 are all dead."

The North's government is struc-tured in a way that the military, police or prosecutors in the provinces have little power but answer to the central government, which in turn reports directly to Kim, he said.

"In the North's government, there must be people very dissatisfied with Kim, but they cannot band together. They're each busy currying favor with Kim while watching their own necks," Cui said.