Understanding Kim Jong-Un&#039;s North Korea

Robert Carlin; Chung-in Moon

doi:10.5771/9781666906783

Summary

This ambitious book is constructed to provide the reader with unusually broad and deep insight into North Korea, illustrating how the Kim Jong-un regime calculates, balances, and addresses the various key policy challenges it faces. This will be accomplished through the extensive experience of the authors—Korean, European, and American—in North Korea and with North Koreans. There is no substitute for such direct experience in order to address the numerous myths and misconceptions that have grown up and persisted over the years about how the North functions, and how it perceives the world. Moreover, the usual focus on a single issue—for example, just nuclear or just economic matters—fails to provide a sense of how important the inter-relationship of these separate parts is in understanding the whole. The experience brought to bear in the book and the breadth of coverage provides badly needed, critical insights about North Korea at time when policy in Seoul and Washington toward the North is at a crucial hinge point.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2022
ISBN-Print: 978-1-6669-0677-6
ISBN-Online: 978-1-6669-0678-3
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 340
Product type: Edited Book

1. Contents No access
2. List of Graphs, Tables, and Figures No access
3. 1. Graphs No access
  2. Tables No access
  3. Figures No access
4. Acknowledgments No access
1. Notes No access
1. Scope of the Problem No access
2. How Much Do We Know? No access
3. Brass Tacks No access
4. Note No access
1. The Basis for Analyzing the North Korean Regime: An Empirical Study of North Korea’s Internal Situation No access
2. The Primary Foundation for the Kim Jong-un Regime’s Stability: The Function of North Korea’s Monolithic System and Its Softening No access
3. Kim Jong-Un’s Leadership as a Source of Added Stability to the North Korean Regime No access
4. Kim Jong-un’s Leadership and the Political Climate around the Korean Peninsula No access
5. Notes No access
6. References No access
1. The Current Status of North Korea’s Economy: How Serious Is the Crisis? No access
2. 1. The CRE Model No access
3. North Korea under Economic Stress: Promoting or Discouraging Reforms? No access
4. Summary and Conclusion: likelihood of Reforms and Resulting Policy Options No access
5. Notes No access
6. References No access
1. Economic Growth as a Prerequisite for Regime Stability No access
2. A Strong Drive for Economic Reform and Opening No access
3. Limitations of Efforts for Reform and Opening No access
4. The Question Should Be When, Not Whether No access
5. Notes No access
6. References No access
1. Kim Jong-un’s Vision of a “Civilized Socialist Nation” No access
2. Marketization as a Driving force of Social Change No access
3. North Korea’s Significant Agency at a Crossroad No access
4. Concluding Remarks No access
5. Notes No access
6. References No access
1. Juche Diplomacy, “The Outpost of World Socialism in East Asia” and Its Cost No access
2. Foreign Policy Objectives of Kim Jong-un No access
3. Continuity and Discontinuity of the Strategic Goals of North Korea No access
4. Actors and Decision-Making Process: The Return of Party-Centrism No access
5. Opportunities, Restraints, and Strategic Ambiguity No access
6. Conclusion: The Revised Party Rules and a New Puzzle No access
7. Notes No access
8. References No access
1. The Suryeong-Party Relationship and the Party-Military Relationship in North Korea No access
2. The Status and Role of the North Korean Military before the 8th Congress of the Workers’ Party No access
3. The 8th Congress of the Workers’ Party and the Status and Role of DPRK Military No access
4. Future Challenges No access
5. Notes No access
6. References No access
1. Estimating North Korea’s Nuclear Arsenal No access
2. North Korea Nuclear and Missile Developments No access
3. Potential Paths Forward No access
4. Notes No access
5. References No access
1. How to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Sanctions No access
2. The Effectiveness of UN Sanctions on North Korea No access
3. Conclusion No access
4. Notes No access
5. References No access
1. Food Security in 2021 No access
2. Common Explanations: Intuitively Attractive but Evidentially Unsupported No access
3. United Nations Sanctions: The Proximate Cause of Food Shortages No access
4. The Underlying Cause of Food Insecurity: The Self-Reliance Fallacy No access
5. The Return of Starvation to North Korean Children in 2021 No access
6. Notes No access
7. References No access
1. Health Status No access
2. Overview of the Health System No access
3. North Korea’s Response to COVID-19 Pandemic No access
4. Opportunities for Health Engagement No access
5. Way Forward No access
6. Conclusion No access
7. Notes No access
8. References No access
1. American Negotiation Experiences: Robert Gallucci, William Perry, Joseph De Trani, and Daniel Russel No access
2. South Korea Experiences: Lim Dong-won, Lee Jaejoung, and Chun Haesung No access
3. Discussions and Comments No access
4. Conclusion and Implications No access
1. Engagement Experiences: Presentations by Glyn Ford, Eun-jeung Lee, Kee B. Park, Geoffrey See, Nam Sun Song, Alexandre Mansourov No access
2. Lessons for Engagement with North Korea No access
3. Discussions and Comments No access
4. Conclusion and Implications No access
5. Note No access
Index No access Pages 323 - 334
About the Contributors No access Pages 335 - 340