The North Korean regime has managed to survive for three generations of leaders without essential changes. The regime`s long survivability has been explained by its intrastate factors, such as Juche ideology, unrestricted power of the leader, reliance on military, dependence of interest groups on the regime, limited liberal reforms, or the degree of country`s isolation from the outside world. However, these explanations proved to be inconsistent on the face of the revolutions of the “Arab Spring”, particularly in Libya. I argue that international factors are significant predictors of authoritarian regime change, rather than intrastate factors. A comparative analysis of the North Korean and Libyan cases demonstrate that authoritarian regime`s survivability is effected by the two major. international factors: the presence or absence of a pro-regime-change great power and the presence or absence of a pro-regime regional veto player.