I just have to wonder how much these think tanks get paid to publish information that anyone reading the ROK Drop would already know?:

A host of mini crises from international sanctions and domestic challenges could trigger instability in North Korea, an influential think tank said.

In its report “North Korea under Tightening Sanctions,” the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said on Monday the international community must be prepared for a variety of contingencies in Pyongyang, including a regime collapse, though it appears stable on the outside.

“Instability, a coup d’etat or even regime collapse would not be observable from the outside until well underway, and any of these scenarios could create a humanitarian emergency that might require international intervention,” Robert Templer, its Asia program director, said.  (…….)

The North Korean leadership is not likely to start a war it knows it would lose, but its motivation to survive could result in more dangerous proliferation activities as sources of foreign exchange – both legitimate and illegitimate – disappear, the group said.

“Kim Jong-il’s political machine requires hard currency to operate, and there are several signs that the regime is increasingly desperate to earn it.”  [Korea Herald]

I have long posted on how North Korea is a Soprano State that uses illicit activities to include even WMD proliferation to keep their cash flow flowing.  I have also long warned about preparing for regime collapse because North Korea is much like the analogy of the straw that broke the camels back; straw keeps getting added and eventually one last straw will break the regime’s back.    The only question now is when this will happen?  It could be next year it could be in 20 years, but it will happen.