Technically Kim Il Sung is still the President of North Korea, even though he’s been dead for a decade. The constitution was amended to make him 'President for Eternity. ’
You bastards!
(sigh) Nostalgia!
Personally, I think he quit to go back to his first love, film production.
[Mel Brooks] “It’s good to be Leader!”[/Mel Brooks]
Unless the problems with the economy etc have touched the ruling elite enough for them to want to liberalise.
Aeschines’s link suggests there must be discontent even at the top of the pyramid - Gorbachev was put into power by the ruling elite of the USSR.
Or it could just be more of the weird shit that seems to happen in North Korea