North Korea is a nation-state that for many years (including the years following the Cold War) has been off of the main radar for American foreign policy. Whether it was because the United States was ...worried about other issues such as problems in the Balkans in the 1990s, or fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the new millennium, challenges from the DPRK never seemed to be at the top of the priorities list with American foreign policy makers. This has now changed. It has become obvious to the world that North Korea has an active nuclear weapons program, and that Pyongyang has not been shy about threatening to use it. It is also obvious that North Korea has long and short range ballistic missiles that can not only threaten the region but potentially the United States, and through proliferation, areas as far away as the Middle East. Since North Korea is now not only acknowledged as a threat to the international order but, in a very potentially violent way, to the American homeland, one wonders, how does this highly threatening and possibly the most sanctioned regime-continue to survive? The answer is largely through North Korea's illicit activities activities that support and enable the Kim family regime., North Korea is a nation-state that for many years (including the years following the Cold War) has been off of the main radar for American foreign policy. Whether it was because the United States was worried about other issues such as problems in the Balkans in the 1990s, or fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the new millennium, challenges from the DPRK never seemed to be at the top of the priorities list with American foreign policy makers. This has now changed. It has become obvious to the world that North Korea has an active nuclear weapons program, and that Pyongyang has not been shy about threatening to use it. It is also obvious that North Korea has long and short range ballistic missiles that can not only threaten the region but potentially the United States, and through proliferation, areas as far away as the Middle East. Since North Korea is now not only acknowledged as a threat to the international order but, in a very potentially violent way, to the American homeland, one wonders, how does this highly threatening and possibly the most sanctioned regime-continue to survive? The answer is largely through North Korea’s illicit activities — activities that support and enable the Kim family regime.
North Korea has remained a thorn in the side of the United States ever since its creation in the aftermath of the Korean conflict of 1950-1953. Crafting a foreign policy that effectively deals with ...North Korea, while still ensuring stability and security on the Korean Peninsula-and in Northeast Asia as a whole-has proved very challenging for successive American administrations. In the wake of ruler Kim Jong-il's death in December 2011, analysts and policymakers continue to speculate about the effect his last years as leader will have on the future of North Korea.Bruce Bechtol, Jr. contends that Kim Jong-il's regime (1994-2011) exacerbated the threats that North Korea posed, and still poses, to the world. Bechtol explains how North Korea presents important challenges on five key fronts: its evolving conventional military threat, its strategy in the Northern Limit Line (NLL) area, its nuclear capabilities, its support for terrorism, and its handling of the succession process.Bechtol's analysis clears up the persistent mystery of how Kim Jong-il's dysfunctional government in its final years was able to persist in power while both presenting a grave danger to its neighbors and setting the stage for the current government. This work addresses issues important for policymakers and academics who must deal with those in power in North Korea.
The DPRK’s (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or North Korea) support for terrorism began as an ideologically-based policy financed by the Soviet Union that eventually led to a policy designed to ...put money into the coffers of the elite in Pyongyang—in short, a “proliferation for hire” policy. This article articulates a brief history of the North Korean regime, the rise to power of Kim Il-sung and his son, Kim Jong-il, and North Korea’s persistent support to terrorist groups around the globe.
The present white paper is submitted as part of the “Snowmass” process to help inform the long-term plans of the United States Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation for high-energy ...physics. It summarizes the science questions driving the Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic-Ray (UHECR) community and provides recommendations on the strategy to answer them in the next two decades.
Since the beginning of the Global War on Terror, and largely because of it, Washington and Seoul have viewed their most important security challenges in the region through different prisms. While the ...leaders in South Korea have sometimes made an effort to help these interests converge (and sometimes not), this has had repercussions as their military forces continue to make an effort to work together in an alliance where the infrastructure and interoperability of forces will change drastically in 2012 and beyond. Much of the problem has been exacerbated because of a radically different view regarding the threat from North Korea and the policy that must be taken to deal with its often rogue‐state behavior. An analysis of potential new governments for both nations reveals a potential for continued disagreement and difficulties in both the policy regarding North Korea and the changing structure of the ROK‐U.S. military alliance. The electorates in the United States and South Korea have already begun the process of picking their next presidential candidates, and in both countries this has the potential for leadership that will want a substantially different role for the military and for military alliances that protect their national interests.
The present white paper is submitted as part of the "Snowmass" process to help inform the long-term plans of the United States Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation for high-energy ...physics. Further, it summarizes the science questions driving the Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic-Ray (UHECR) community and provides recommendations on the strategy to answer them in the next two decades.
The Northern Limit Line(NLL) incident of 2002 helped contribute to an environment of tension on the Korean Peninsula, and created political problems for President Kim Dae‐jung's Sunshine Policy. The ...attack now appears to have been carefully planned and carried out by the North Koreans. Based on the nature of the North Korean regime, and past precedent based on other recent provocations, it is likely that the attack on the ROK Navy on June 2 of 2002 was ordered, or at least carried out, with the expressed consent of Kim Chong‐il. The most likely reason for the attack appears to have been revenge for a naval defeat Pyongyang suffered near the NLL during the summer of 1999, although other reasons such as an attempt to interfere with the World Cup soccer games in Seoul, a gambit aimed at increasing leverage during upcoming talks with the U.S., or a move aimed at bringing the world's attention to the “illegality” of the NLL, are also possible. Implications of the incident included increased tensions on the Peninsula and postponed foreign aid and security talks, but in the long run, the incident will probably be remembered as one of many provocations conducted by the North since 1953.
North Korea contributes to instability in the Middle East and South Asia through its proliferation of missiles and other weapons systems used as delivery platforms for chemical (and the production of ...chemical munitions) or biological weapons, including long-range artillery. Evidence also shows that North Korea has collaborated in the nuclear programs of Syria, Iran, Libya, and Pakistan and has provided weapons and training to terrorist groups in both the Middle East and South Asia (Hezbollah and the Tamil Tigers). Given the recent decision by Washington to take Pyongyang off of the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, the recent and ongoing activity by North Korea directly related to proliferation of WMD and the support of terrorist groups could lead to severe foreign policy challenges for the United States and its allies in the future.
US military support to the Republic of Korea (ROK) remains critical to peace and stability. The author details constraints faced by the army of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in any ...attempt to invade the ROK. Although much of the surface-based defense capability in the South is transitioning to the ROK army, a strong US airpower presence demonstrates US commitment to Korean security, counterbalances the DPRK's offensive systems, and deters war. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
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