That's why I'm not too sure that North Korea is that poor.
They usually have this paranoid military state system going on, and as big of a military-industrial complex that they can support.
North Korea is interested in rocket science. Same thing as Iran (they also have a space program). Russia, Iran, and the ex-Warsaw Pact countries (including Ukraine) actually have an unusually large number of engineers and scientists, but directed towards militaristic ends..
China is the one that breaks apart the communism theory because they mixed capitalism with communism lol.