Despite famine and economic catastrophe, the North Korean system has persisted in the face of predictions of collapse. This collection examines the North Korean state from political, economic, strategic, and legal perspectives to determine how this system has continued to survive in the post-Cold War era, what its current condition is, and what its future might be. The contributors, all leading scholars from the US and Korea, use the latest research available to paint the fullest picture yet of the North Korean state system in a time of great change on the Korean peninsula.