I think if you put yourself into kim shoes, you would probably sit on your ass and watch as your country burn because it is your safest and only option to stay alive as long as possible.

if I put into an situation similar to kim, i would probably do the same because what else can I do?

What keeps my power over the people from an revolution is hanging on a thin line of illusion . Also I can't trust my advisor and families because they might also be out for my head. So I am paranoid as fuck. I probably got a decent education so I probably know the country economy is screw as fuck and the country probably cannot get much foreign investment.

Even if you can get foreign investment on the condition you open your economy up, would only be your death sentence because you will not be able to control all the information that comes into the country now. Once they find out about the outside world, you are probably dead by an uprising.

I am also crushed with civil unrest and that issues that I have to prove that I am worthy of succession. What I have left is to threaten the world with my military and nuclear missiles.

Mainly I am trying to say is that the country at the state where even KIM himself cannot turn it around because the steps to the right way will lead to his death. You can't blame him for wanting to live.