In the wake of the funeral for North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, North Korea said the world should not expect change in its leadership style or policies. In the first formal policy message since Kim Jong Il's death earlier this month, North Korea condemned South Korea's President Lee Moon-bok and affirmed the leadership of Kim Jong-un, who was officially declared Supreme Leader yesterday in a ceremony in Pyongyang. For more, we're joined by Christine On, Executive Director of the Korea Policy Institute. Please visit North Korea three times. Welcome to FSRN. Thanks, Doran. How do you view the statement released today by the Korean Central News Agency? Is it to be expected in this time of political transition? Do you see anything new in it? I think it is to be expected, you know, just because Kim Jong Il, who is the political figurehead, passed away, does not necessarily mean that you're going to see dramatic political or economic or military changes within North Korea. Just because there is a pretty well-seasoned veteran cadre of political elites who are part of the Workers' Party and the Military Commission who really do make money of the decisions for North Korea. So I don't see much change. I do see a prospect of changes that are happening in terms of political winds of change blowing in South Korea. And also just the fact that Kim Jong Il was so vilified and despised by the West that the fact that there is a fresh face, Kim Jong Un, that there is kind of a clean slate in terms of not knowing much about him, that there is prospects, hopefully, for dialogue, especially with the United States. Well, you know this seasoned or experienced circle of advisors or leaders around Kim Jong Un. What about Kim Jong Un himself who's been declared supreme leader, little was known about him, although he did make some appearances over the past few years. What new information came out about him in this past week? Unfortunately not very much. I mean, I think the most information that we have is that he, you know, attended boarding school in Switzerland. So that much we know is that he's had the experience of living abroad and living outside of North Korea. And so given that we live in an international community that hopefully that will influence the ways in which he would like to govern North Korea, I mentioned earlier that South Korea is experiencing tremendous winds of change and the current president, Imam Bak, who was not even willing to send formal condolences to North Korea. I think that, you know, the people of South Korea are ready for a different kind of policy. And in fact, that lack of formal apology from the US and South Korea was mentioned in today's release by North Korea. Yes, correct. Now with this talk on the geopolitical level, what about the people of North Korea and how they could be affected? North Korea is typically characterized as a place of extreme poverty of mass starvation and that has been well documented. But there's been also signs of some development and change. What do we know about the state of economic growth and of the disparity? And what have you seen on your visits there? I do agree that there have been some changes in the, definitely in the daily living situation of North Korea, especially from the past decade, which was perhaps the darkest hour for North Korea in which up to a million people perished in the famine. And, you know, the thing is, the good or the bad is that it has a lot to do with North Korea's bilateral relations with China. And what we're seeing is essentially North Korea falling greater under the control of China. And so how does that impact the potential reunification of the two Koreas? How does that impact, you know, the US's ability to leverage at all? And so I think that right now is an opening for dialogue and engagement. Christine On is executive director of the Korea Policy Institute. She's visited North Korea several times. Thank you for joining us. Thanks, Dorian. Bye-bye.