Yes, because north Koreans must have a gene for authoritarianism or something. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with having all of its towns destroyed and 20% of its population killed by the US in a savage bombing campaign where more bombs were dropped than in the entirety of WW2, and have been under a deathly and relentless imperialist siege since.

I’d rather that than a disappearance state with cardboard walls

Would be crazy if South Korea had a massive, brutal police state or a long history of improvised slums and ruthless exploitation of it's citizenry.

Good thing we're sanctioning North Korea to the hilt, guaranting none of those horrible practices become common place throughout the Western aligned Asian states

Capitalism is what enables that very authoritarianism.

When the proletariat and bourgeoise start becoming dissatisfied, distract with a fabricated crisis and blame another group, splitting them apart. --> oligarchy furthers and the bourgeoise and proletariat are further impoverished. This goes together with an increasingly large police apparatus and surveillance capitalism.

Two main outcomes arise:

Either the bourgeoise takes matters in their own hands, supported by the oligarchy; and fascism arises. The oligarchy supports this, as it allows themselves to concentrate the proletariat into trade unions fully appointed by them.

Or, the proletariat takes matters into their hands, and liberate themselves from the chains of capitalism and fascism. But the capitalist oligarchy, again, might attempt to subvert that revolution, by supporting conservative and authoritarian elements for propaganda purposes; they will back oil, coal, and gas industries, rather than renewables, as the former ones are often headed or governed by pro-fascist leaders.

But the red path between brown fascism and gold greed, that narrow path of communism and socialism, is the path of liberation; the path in where the proletariat liberates itself from both fascism and capitalism, and defeats authoritarianism. The Rojava, the Zapatista, the Makhnovishna, Frisian freedom, and Free Catalonia, have shown us that such a path is very much possible.