American ad man transformed the image of a nation-sized race cult into a quaint provincial island of passive nobility.
(1) It's a very interesting idea, and I'm not 100% sure if I believe it, but it definitely doesn't sound unbelievable either.
(2) Can we do it again with North Korea? Maybe there's a path forward after all.
Right now, things are pretty bad. People are starving, there are human rights abuses, etc. If you want to change the course of a country, you have to remove the old order and (the part everyone forgets about far too easily) fill the void by somehow creating a new order that is stable and effective. This second part fails really often in history. I think it might be a huge challenge for North Korea if they ever get to that step.