North Korea is so mismanaged that it is meaningful to ask how the system survives. The elite lives in Pyongyang and several other cities under protection of a vast security apparatus. Most of the countryside, especially to the east of the country, is unreachable and habitually hungry. “So,” you rightly ask, “why do they not revolt?” (“Deprive and Rule,” September 17, 2011). Your tentative conclusion is that North Korea has not only managed to isolate itself from the rest of the world, but has also created an “internally isolated” underclass that is left to fend for itself without any help from the state. The very struggle for survival protects the system from revolt. Well put. I would only like to add that North Koreans are learning from their Chinese neighbors. In particular, the Tibetans and the Uyghurs to the west of the country are also left to fend for themselves. Although they are somewhat less hungry than their North Korean comrades, they are internally isolated to such an extent that their revolts, religious or otherwise, cannot add up to a serious challenge to the system. Deprive and rule is your apt phrase once again.