Two Kims have already died and nothing changed. The current one is Swiss educated, likes NBA, and speaks at least a little English. If there was a hope that a change of dictator was going to do anything, he was it.
Reading in translation has always just fallen flat for me. There's something about the medium being the message that can't be replaced. I'm even credited with translating a handful of short stories from another language and I avoid it :/
Fresh starts are always tempting, but they mean throwing out a ton of babies with that bathwater. Re-making old mistakes and solving them with fresh kludges in your nice, new, clean solution.
Like everything else in engineering, it's a balancing act.
Do you mind sharing what the hard numbers were?