Depends upon how you measure “well”.
The Kim dynasty is still going strong, three generations in. Odds are that the Kims and probably a number of people at the top would be worse-off if things changed. From their perspective, things probably are going pretty well in North Korea.
Of course, the standard of living of the North Korean public is pretty horrendous, the economy is undeveloped, and North Korea doesn’t have a lot of international clout. If your metric is whether the typical person in society is living well or whether the country is powerful, wealthy, or secure, then things aren’t going very well.
Maybe they’re trying to aim for the crowd for whom the Deck is too expensive, and shaving off some of the hardware helps?
I mean, it does sound like a significant drawback, but if you gotta get the cost down, I suppose that’s one thing to look at.