Alternate North Koreas

In OTL, the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" is the rogue state infamous for it's crazy leaders, fanatical devotion to said dictator, insane totalitarian ideology, and an eagerness to threaten its neighbors with war, so what countries do you think have the potential to become their world's counterpart to North Korea?
 
Libya under Colonel Unspellable if it had had more people for bigger standing armed forces so that he was a bigger threat. E.g. he could engineer a pro-Unspellable coup in Tunisia in the 1970s and then rig a plebiscite for a Libya-Tunisia union to create a Greater State of the Masses.
 
Most of the elements the OP describes are hardly unique to North Korea. We have contemporary and historical examples of literally all of that.

The only thing that makes North Korea unique was its ability to survive its near apocalyptic economic collapse in the wake of the dismemberment of the Soviet Union. And that was a function of its geographical position (peninsular country with only two land borders, one of which is the most militarized on Earth) and the fact that China has been willing to prop them up. If, say, East Germany tried "pulling a North Korea" (i.e. persevering despite economic collapse and being surrounded by hostile states) after the Soviet Union fell, its entire population would have just fled West. Same with Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, etc.
 
What about an Eritrea which somehow acquires the services of some ex-Soviet nuclear scientists as they are preety close to North Korea right now in nastiness?
 
Romania under Nicolae Ceaușescu. He was actually inspired by Kim-Il Sung's personality cult to create his own after several trips to North Korea in the 1970s

Early seeds of the cult of personality can be found in the acclamation of Ceaușescu following his speech in which he denounced theWarsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. From that date, there was an increasing identification of Romania with Ceaușescu in both the Romanian media and in the statements of other officials.[1] The real beginning of the cult, however, came after Ceaușescu visited China and North Korea in 1971. He was particularly impressed by the highly personal way that China's Mao Zedong and North Korea's Kim Il-sung ruled their countries, as well as the personality cults surrounding them.

EDIT: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolae_Ceaușescu's_cult_of_personality

Here's some more information of Romania's North-Korean esque cult of personality.

Ceaușescu began to be portrayed by the Romanian media as a communist theoretician of genius who made significant contributions to Marxism-Leninism[5] and a political leader whose "thought" was the source of all national accomplishments.[4][5] His collected works have been republished at regular intervals and translated into several languages. The works eventually numbered dozens of volumes and were omnipresent in Romanian bookstores.[5] Elena was portrayed as the "Mother of the Nation." By all accounts, her vanity and her desire for honours exceeded that of her husband.[2]

The media used the expression "golden era of Ceaușescu" and a plethora of fomulaic appellations such as "guarantor of the nation's progress and independence" and "visionary architect of the nation's future".[4] Dan Ionescu, a writer for Radio Free Europecompiled a list of epithets for Ceaușescu that were used by Romanian writers. They included "architect", "celestial body" (Mihai Beniuc), "demiurge", "secular god" (Corneliu Vadim Tudor), "fir tree", "Prince Charming" (Ion Manole), "genius", "saint" (Eugen Barbu), "miracle", "morning star" (Vasile Andronache), "navigator" (Victor Nistea), "saviour" (Niculae Stoian), "sun" (Alexandru Andriţoiu), "titan" (Ion Potopin) and "visionary" (Viorel Cozma).[7][8] He was most commonly described as the Conducător, or "the leader."[2]

However, he was also described as being a man of humble origins, who had risen to the top through his own efforts, and was thus linked symbolically to common folk heroes in Romanian history, such as Horea and Avram Iancu.[6]

Not surprisingly, the Ceaușescus were greatly concerned about their public image. Most photos of them showed them in their late 40s. Romanian state television was under strict orders to portray them in the best possible light. For instance, producers had to take great care to ensure that Ceaușescu's 1.65 metres (5.4 ft) frame was never emphasized on screen. Elena was never seen in profile because of her large nose and overall homely appearance. Consequences for breaking these rules were severe; one producer showed footage of Ceaușescu blinking and stuttering, and was banned for three months.[2]

At one time, the ubiquitous photographs of Ceaușescu were all representing one photo in which he was shown in half-profile, with just one ear showing. After a joke spread about this being the portrait "in one ear" (a Romanian idiom meaning "to be crazy"), the photographs from profile were considered improper and the portraits were replaced with new photographs in which both ears were clearly visible.[9][10]

So, with some hypothetical tweaking of history (maybe the 1989 Romanian Revolution falls flat on it's face?) Romania could become even more repressive and become Europe's version of North Korea.
 
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What about an Eritrea which somehow acquires the services of some ex-Soviet nuclear scientists as they are preety close to North Korea right now in nastiness?

They need a more flamboyant dictator, like a Mugabe-type prone to making ridiculous proclamations and analysis of various events. Eritrea has the repression (lower than North Korea in press freedom!) and brutality down well, they just need the over the top nature as seen in North Korea, Zimbabwe, etc.
 
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