Foreign Policy and Terrorism in North Korea Essay

Debates have been swirling around the international community over North Korea’s recent actions considered to be “Crimes against humanity” (Pearson, Hanna, and Park). When did North Korea start to have these issues and who is behind the crimes arguably equal to that of Nazi Germany? Was it during the reign of Kim ll-sung or Kim Jong-il? Arguments can be made that the crimes did start under the reign of these two leaders, but the real culprit behind the crimes against humanity is Kim Jong-un the current supreme leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

After Soviet-backed North Korea invaded US-backed South Korea, more than three years of bloody warfare ensued. Despite all casualties, the territorial divide between the Koreas remained roughly the same, with the two states divided among the thirty-eighth parallel by an armistice. (Stueck, 1995) Apart from a brief period in the last decade when tensions eased, the two states continued to espouse intense hostilities against one another, with no formal peace agreements negotiated. (Sigal, 2002) From time to time, North Korea commits acts that are considered aggression under International Law, including but not limited to tunneling to South Korea, launching missiles towards South Korean military facilities and allegedly sinking a South Korean warship. Coupled with Pyongyang’s secrecy in foreign policy making, North Korea’s mixed foreign policy signals, at times, may cause one to believe that they are

How North Korea will meet its end is on the minds of many East Asian policy makers, analysts, experts, and military minds. Why is North Korea worth the attention? North Korea is one of the most heavily armed nations on earth. North Korea possesses a large conventional force of 1.2 million soldiers (Scobell 2007, 8), making her a threat to neighboring South Korea. In addition, North Korea maintains a large Special Operations Force to operate behind the lines in a major confrontation with South Korea (Scobell 2007, 8). But it is North Korea’s chemical weapons and missile inventory that pose a threat to not only South Korea but also Japan (Scobell 2007, 9-10) and island nations in the Pacific. The US is close allies with both Japan and South Korea and North Korea’s advances in unconventional military might are troubling. While it is unlikely North Korea will attack South Korea in an all out attempt to reunite the peninsula (Scobell 2007, 12), another possibility exists for North Korea: total collapse of the state as we understand it. The security of North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction will be of paramount importance to the US and the rest of the world as North Korea maintains a robust WMD program to include nuclear weapons (Scobell 2007, 9-11). North Korea’s collapse would require massive resources from the US and South Korea and other neighboring countries to secure WMD facilities and the population. Since all out war launched by either US-ROK alliance or North

The ongoing North Korean Crisis, has, in recent years, escalated as a result of North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles in violation of UN’s Security Council resolutions. In addition, there were periods of tension such as the shelling of Yeongyeong Island, and it is possible that any incidents along the border between the two Koreas could potentially result in dangerous consequences, ultimately leading to war. However, as the Crisis escalates and with rising tensions, the impacts can already be felt. North Korea currently has defence capabilities such as chemical and biological weapons, which are frightening on their own, yet even more deadly is the nuclear weapons North Korea added to their defence arsenal, capable

The Korean Peninsula has long been the site of one of the world’s most prominent flashpoints and serves as a relic of the clash between capitalism and communism during the Cold War. The region has yet to evolve beyond the ceasefire put into force more than 60 years ago with the original demilitarised zone still dividing the two Koreas and with occasional skirmishes continuing to take place. The Cold War may have concluded almost 30 years ago, but the mentalities dominant within the east and west are still plainly visible on the Korean Peninsula. While South Korea has prospered under a United States influenced liberal economy, North Korea has become a ‘rogue state’, a label affixed due to the ruling Kim regime’s frequent belligerence and provocative

North Korea’s threats have taken a toll on not only the United States but countries around the world. Nuclear accessibility has caused them to take their threats to a whole new level which has the potential to annihilate the democratic world we live in today. Just this year, “North Korea threatened a nuclear strike on “the heart of the US” if it attempts to remove Kim Jong Un as Supreme Leader” (North Korea). North Korea is not the only threat we face either. Countries across the globe have access to nuclear weapons which can be launched at any given time. In 1987, during the prime of the Cold War, “The USSR alone controlled 40,000 nuclear warheads” (32, Katherine). Luckily today, through treaties passed by international governmental organizations

Once the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s the bipolar world order disintegrated with it, leaving the United States as the sole global superpower. Yet, the communism was not the only concern of Americans. In the early 1980s, this capitalist power already started sensing an overcoming threat of the international terrorism, which led to the emergence of a new group of enemies, namely, the rogue states. These countries are seen as a danger to the new unipolar world. The United States of America assumed a responsibility to contain these states and/or transform them into successfully functioning democracies. Currently this is being done by military interventions and sanctions. However, one special state arises – North Korea . It is the

The recent turn of events in North Korea with its alleged admission to possessing nuclear weapon has created nervous tension in the Far East region. Specifically, North Korea has recently transformed the existing bilateral U.S.-ROK alliance into an awkward triangular ROK-U.S.-DPRK dynamic, significantly complicating the previous bilateral relationships amongst the three as well as making these relationships more difficult to manage. We will trace the development of these relations, to gain a better insight into this long standing conflict and to assess better the future implications surrounding these tensions.

Beginning in the early 1940’s, Korea has been a split nation; the great divide that happened in initially in 1945 was just the beginning of what would become one of the world’s most infamous splits of a country. Radically different in political regime and agenda, these countries provide for a very complex case study of border conflict. Due to its extremely repressive regime, North Korea stands as one of the worst places to call home in the world, while South Korea is incredibly more liberal. Despite the inescapable amounts of propaganda imposed on the citizens of North Korea, the current generations of North Koreans hold ties to South Korea through separated family, making South Korea a very attractive but forbidden land. While South Korea continues to center its foreign policy on loosening the strict rule of the North Korean government, North Korea remains stubborn and the struggle remains in tow with the stark differentiation between ideologies politically, militarily, and culturally.

The ambition of the DPRK to become a recognized nuclear weapon state is a direct challenge to the regional hegemony of the PRC and threat to the stability of East Asia. Despite the involvement of the Six-party talks, the PRC recognized Kim’s nuclear program to negotiate amongst nations with the intent to denuclearize in the future. Following the DPRK’s April-May 2009 nuclear test, however, many scholars believe that the PRC recognized the emerging threat of the DPRK. Although the denuclearization of the DPRK would be advantageous for the PRC, the security vulnerabilities of the DPRK and the proximity of hostile countries under the United States’ nuclear umbrella present a conflicting scenario amongst PRC officials. For this reason, denuclearization more than likely will not occur, resulting in the United States and other nations to instigate denuclearization within the Korean Peninsula. In fact, PRC officials have encouraged the United States to bilaterally negotiate with the DPRK as well persuade DPRK officials to resume the Six-party talks.

The very recent publication of a comprehensive report by the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea establishes credible evidence and knowledge of the situation in North Korea. With knowledge of the unparalleled conditions, the international community now has no excuse for its inaction. Although the global community faces many challenges such as issues of state sovereignty, it must remember the many human lives at stake and the fundamental right to

programs and continues to develop its nuclear program to the extent that the Democratic People’s

North Korea, also referred to as “The Hermit Kingdom”, has gained great publicity and news coverage for its unorthodox nature and borderline reckless politics. This extremely militarized and sequestered nation is one of the last powerful totalitarian nations left and it is for this reason so much interest is being placed on this country. With its newly acquired arsenal of nuclear weapons, North Korea will soon find itself heading into chaos or learning to live peacefully with the international community.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly referred to as North Korea (NK), was founded on 9 September 1948 and has been able to survive as a communist country while many other states with similar political ideologies have failed and transitioned to some other political philosophy. The recent increase of tensions on the Korean peninsula stemming from the multiple nuclear tests and aggressive long-range missile launches has brought NK, under the leadership of Kim Jong-Un (KJU), onto the center stage of world politics as rhetoric and actions continue to escalate between the two sides. The United States (US) seeks to address the critical security concern of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula due to the risks associated with

The DPRK’s increase in the display of military force, including 30 ballistic missile tests within the last 16 months, reflect a growing sense of danger to East Asia. While the DPRK is economically and diplomatically dependent upon the PRC, Kim Jong-un’s military ambitions have further strained the Sino-North Korean alliance.