One major thing that is holding North Korea back from developing is their hostility towards South Korea. There are over 1,000,000 troops bordering the DMZ on the North side alone. If the barrier did not need to be guarded it would free up hundreds of thousands of people that could be put into the workforce and would boost the economy. Even if the amount of border guards was cut in half it would increase the workforce and amount of people in the factories by over a half million. Also, the nuclear threat from North Korea has become more real as time wears on. North Korea has now tested some nuclear weaponry and has threated to use them. The United Nations has had many peace talks with North Korea including the non-productive six nations meetings. If North Korea were to reach a compromise with the UN it would restore some peace to the restless parts of the world. If North Korea could solve two problems at once it would increase their development by a large margin. Clearly it is crucial that North and South Korea remove the fighting from their countries and for North Korea to reduce its nuclear weaponry threat.
My second thing that could help North Korea become a more developed country would be that they could get rid of the dictatorship that exists today and replace it with a new government that would be more focused on helping the people instead of taking over the world. Kim Jong Un is the current leader of North Korea and he is not in the least bit concerned about his people. Him as well as his father and his grandfather had been known to indulge themselves with the most expensive and luxurious foods and goods while their people