Ken Gause, Analyst and Senior Advisor of the North Korea Program, Institute for Defense Analyses, points out that North Korea has prioritized digital transformation for economic development but lacks the capacity to fully integrate the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). Highlighting North Korea's limited advanced manufacturing capabilities, unstable electricity supply, and reliance on a human-centric surveillance network, Gause claims that adopting 4IR technologies would only increase the regime's vulnerability to domestic instability and external scrutiny.