U.S. scholar Nicholas Eberstadt says it's very unlikely that North Korea will conduct reform and open door policies despite its plan to join the ranks of advanced nations by 2020.

The North announced earlier this year a ten-year strategy on national economic development.

Eberstadt, a researcher at the American Enterprise Institute, recently issued a report titled, "What is Wrong with the North Korean Economy." He says the North’s plans for it economy would require an enormous investment running into the tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars.

The U.S. scholar said "Pyongyang appears absolutely intent upon carrying the Kim Jong-il family's dynastic rule into its third generation." He added that "North Korean policymakers may genuinely want their nation to be what they call a 'prosperous and powerful state' but at the same time they have been totally unwilling to risk the sorts of steps that could actually generate such prosperity."

Eberstadt expressed that North Korea's long-term economic failure is directly related to the policies and practices embraced and championed by the Pyongyang government including its "own style of socialism."