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Rationality in the North Korean Regime
Understanding the Kims’ Strategy of Provocation
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2020
Summary
How and why are the Kims rational? There is no consensus about either the Kims’ rationality or how best to determine if they are rational actors. Rationality in the North Korean Regime offers a concise and finite method to assess rationality by examining over ten cases of provocations from the Korean War to the August 2015 land mine incident. The book asserts that Kim Il-sung was predominantly a rational actor, though the regime behaved irrationally at times under his rule, and that both Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un have clearly been rational actors.
As a rational actor, Kim Jong-un is unlikely to give up his nuclear weapons, but this work argues he can be deterred from using them if the United States demonstrates it is willing to co-exist with his regime and pursues long-term engagement to reduce Kim’s concern that North Korea’s sovereignty needs defending from U.S. hostile policy. This could allow gradual social change within the country that could eventually lead to positive systemic change as well as soften Kim’s rule. In this regard, time may be on the side of the U.S.-South Korean alliance, but the two allies must embrace the long view and learn to be more patient or risk another conflict on the Korean Peninsula.
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Bibliographic data
Copyright year
2020
ISBN-Print
978-1-4985-6625-4
ISBN-Online
978-1-4985-6626-1
Publisher
Lexington, Lanham
Language
English
Pages
336
Product type
Book Titles
Table of contents
ChapterPages
Contents No access
List of Tables No access
Acknowledgments No access
Introduction No access Pages 1 - 30
1 The Korean War: Rational but Failed War of Reunification No access Pages 31 - 58
2 The Second Korean War: Mix of Rational and Irrational Choices No access Pages 59 - 82
3 The 1976 Ax Murders: Rational Miscalculation at Panmunjom No access Pages 83 - 98
4 Export of Terror in the 1980s: Redux of Rational and Irrational Choices No access Pages 99 - 118
5 The Arduous March during the 1990s: Rational Use of Diplomacy No access Pages 119 - 146
6 The Era of Axis of Evil: Rational Use of Nuclear Threats and Diplomacy No access Pages 147 - 196
7 The Cheonan and Yeonpyeong Island Attacks: The Rational Use of Force No access Pages 197 - 218
8 The New Byungjin Line: Nuclear ICBM-First Politics No access Pages 219 - 240
9 Limited War of Legitimacy: August 2015 Landmine Incident No access Pages 241 - 260
Conclusion Comparative Assessment of Kims’ Rationality and Policy Implications No access Pages 261 - 300
