A Sharper Choice on North Korea

A Sharper Choice on North Korea
Author: Mike Mullen
Publisher: Council on Foreign Relations Press
Total Pages: 101
Release: 2016-09-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0876096801

North Korea and the Global Nuclear Order

North Korea and the Global Nuclear Order
Author: Edward Howell
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2023-04-26
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0192888404

For a state that has gained a global reputation as a violator of international norms, not least through its unwavering pursuit of nuclear weapons, North Korea's determination to become a nuclear-armed state is puzzling. If nuclear weapons beget security, insecurity, and other costs for the state, how might we understand this pursuit, and the delinquent behaviour that has arisen from it? In North Korea and the Global Nuclear Order, Edward Howell offers an answer to this question, focusing on North Korea's quest for status in the international system and developing the theoretical framework of 'strategic delinquency'. Featuring previously unpublished and new interviews with international negotiators with North Korea, and drawing upon new academic literature, Howell proffers an original theoretical framework to apply to the North Korean case. Covering a time period from the 1990s to the present-day, and using unprecedentedly rich empirical evidence, he makes the overarching argument that North Korea has strategically deployed behaviour that breaks international norms in order to reap benefits. In so doing, this book posits how over time, North Korea has learnt that despite the low status and opprobrium that might ensue, bad behaviour can pay.

Politics and Leadership in North Korea

Politics and Leadership in North Korea
Author: Adrian Buzo
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 454
Release: 2017-09-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 1317284976

Politics and Leadership in North Korea, now fully updated in this second edition, presents an accessible and comprehensive account of North Korea's political, economic and foreign policies since its creation in 1945. Moving away from media representations of North Korea as dangerously erratic and dysfunctional, Adrian Buzo provides a thorough analysis of Kim Il Sung’s vision for the DPRK and demonstrates the consistency of the successive leaderships’ approach to politics, economics and international affairs. This second edition has been fully revised and takes into account all the important events of the last fifteen years in North Korea, such as: • endemic food shortages; • the steady growth of military emphasis in both politics and ideology; • the acquisition and continued development of nuclear capabilities; • the implementation and eventual failure of South Korea’s ‘sunshine policy’; • the growth of private enterprise and a consumer economy. As such, it will continue to be an essential resource for students of North Korea, East Asian Politics and International Politics.

Comrades and Strangers

Comrades and Strangers
Author: Michael Harrold
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 432
Release: 2004-08-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 0470869844

In 1987 Michael Harrold went to North Korea to work as English language adviser on translations of the speeches of the late President Kim Il Sung (the Great Leader) and his son and heir Kim Jong Il (then Dear Leader and now head of state). For seven years he lived in Pyongyang enjoying privileged access to the ruling classes and enjoying the confidence of the country’s young elite. In this fascinating insight into the culture of North Korea he describes the hospitality of his hosts, how they were shaken by the Velvet Revolution of 1989 and many of the fascinating characters he met from South Korean and American GI defectors to his Korean minder and socialite friends. After seven years and having been caught passing South Korean music tapes to friends and going out without his minder to places forbidden to foreigners, he was asked to leave the country.

Change and Continuity in North Korean Politics

Change and Continuity in North Korean Politics
Author: Adam Cathcart
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2016-11-03
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 113481111X

In the years since the death of Kim Jong-il and the formal acknowledgement of Kim Jong-un as head of state, the North Korean regime has made a series of moves to further augment and consolidate the ideological foundations of Kimism and cement the young leader’s legitimacy. Historical narratives have played a critical, if often unnoticed, role in this process. This book seeks to chronicle these historical changes and continuities. Continuity and Change in North Korean Politics explores the stable and shifting political, cultural and economic landscapes of North Korea in the era of Kim Jong-un. The contributors deploy a variety of methodologies of analysis focused on the content, narratives and discourses of politics under Kim Jong-un, tracing its historical roots and contemporary practical and conceptual manifestations. Moving beyond most analyses of North Korea’s political and institutional ideologies, the book explores uncharted spaces of social and cultural relations, including children’s literature, fisheries, grassland reclamation, commemorative culture, and gender. By examining critical moments of change and continuity in the country’s past, it builds a holistic analysis of national politics as it is currently deployed and experienced. Demonstrating how historical, political and cultural narratives continue to be adapted to suit new and challenging circumstances, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Korean Studies, Korean Politics and Asian Studies.

The North Korean Conundrum

The North Korean Conundrum
Author: Robert R. King
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2022-04-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1931368686

North Korea is consistently identified as one of the world’s worst human rights abusers. However, the issue of human rights in North Korea is a complex one, intertwined with issues like life in the North Korean police state, inter-Korean relations, denuclearization, access to information in the North, and international cooperation, to name a few. There are likewise multiple actors involved, including the two Korean governments, the United States, the United Nations, South Korea NGOs, and global human rights organizations. While North Korea’s nuclear weapons and the security threat it poses have occupied the center stage and eclipsed other issues in recent years, human rights remain important to U.S. policy. The contributors to The North Korean Conundrum explore how dealing with the issue of human rights is shaped and affected by the political issues with which it is so entwined. Sections discuss the role of the United Nations; how North Koreans’ limited access to information is part of the problem, and how this is changing; the relationship between human rights and denuclearization; and North Korean human rights in comparative perspective.

The Real North Korea

The Real North Korea
Author: Andrei Lankov
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2015
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199390037

In The Real North Korea, Lankov substitutes cold, clear analysis for the overheated rhetoric surrounding this opaque police state. Based on vast expertise, this book reveals how average North Koreans live, how their leaders rule, and how both survive