What North Korea needs now is to replicate the kind of change that happened in China and Vietnam, North Korea needs a practical leader with courage and political will who can lead the country towards reform and openness by freeing himself from outdated ideologies and shedding the shackles of the monolithic system of governance. Contrary to the high hopes of many outsiders, however, the recent third-generation power succession and the apparent continuation of the status quo under the new regime suggest the oppsite.