NK had 10-15% of their population killed by the USAmerican regime during the Korean war, many losses due to the indiscriminate bombings by the USAmerican regime too. Vietnam got media coverage, but NK was earlier.
They were brutally sanctioned, threatened with nuclear weapons n all. Losing a major trading partner, the USSR, was also an issue.

Yes, they are backward currently in those parameters and may have issues, but they stood strong against imperialism and if their free flourishing would have been allowed, they would be much better.
Like, NK was similar to SK till the 90's or so.

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN?locations=KR-KP-US

Country	Life expectancy
SK	84
USAmerica	79
NK	74

And from the drop in that around 1990, we can see it is not something Kim Jong Un decided(he was likely 10 or 11 years old then). The likely causes are then the things that were in play then: The fall of their major trading partner + USAmerican regime's sanctions amplifying that + They also had serious natural calamities at the time.

Also, if you are a USAmerican, have you heard of this:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/05/commando-team-north-korea-civilians-2019-mission

This is what they face for not bowing down to capitalist dominance and USAmerican regime's aggression. And they fight on.

And regarding SK's economic development:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kijichon

This was deemed as "necessary for soldiers to continue protecting South Korea, and was beneficial for economic development".

Pragmatic?

Finally, with the USAmerican regime seen to be losing dominance, NK will probably be able to rise up with lesser fears of sanctions and sabotage.
It seems to be happening.