POL 200: North Korea 1

North Korea: Is there a Path toward Peace?

By: Andrei Wogen

FRESHMAN AT SMSU, MARSHALL, MINNESOTA

SUBMITTED TO:

PROFESSOR DOUG SIMON

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Table of Contents

Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 3

North Korea: The Consequences ........................................................................................ 3

Frist Consequence ........................................................................................................... 4

Second Consequence ...................................................................................................... 5

The Outcome ....................................................................................................................... 6

What North Korea Really (Probably) Wants .................................................................. 6

How North Korea is Trying to Get What It Wants ......................................................... 7

Peace: Will It Happen? ....................................................................................................... 8

Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 9

Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 10

Figures............................................................................................................................... 11
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Introduction

North Korea has in the past and continues to be a hot topic within the news media and

the political realm. This focus is not contained just within the United States either as most of the

free world and many members of the United Nations continue to keep watch of and continue

with dialogue surrounding the question of what to do about North Korea. This hermit nation that

has been ruled by some sort of dictator since 1953 when Kim Il-sung assumed power after the

Korean War ended and North Korea split from its southern neighbor (Gale, 2017), has been in

constant tension with the rest of the world. Following Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-Il transitioned into

power and now his son, Kim Jong-un is in power and through all these rulers the same form of

communistic rule and dictatorship has been in place over the people of the country as well as the

same behavior of cutting itself off from the rest of the world and being hostile towards it.

North Korea: The Consequences

Because of this type of political system that has been prevalent in the country since its

founding along with its behavior, there have been a couple of key consequences that have

developed over the years. One of these consequences has been internal and one has been more

outward. I will be discussing both of these consequences in this paper as I believe that both of

them feed into the overall question and potential answer of whether or not there is a path towards

peace between North Korea and the rest of the world. There are many parts to this puzzle of how

and even why to deal with North Korea but I think they all fall into two main categories and their

subsequent consequences.

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Frist Consequence

The first consequence of North Korea’s behavior and its causes is actually one that is

twofold with the first relating to the people of North Korea and the second relating to the

government system and the ruling family.

In relation to the people of North Korea this consequence and causes all go back to the

rather deplorable living conditions that most North Koreans face every day. For most people

living in North Korea, those outside the capital city of Pyongyang, they are faced with constant

hunger and sickness. They also live in a constant state of fear of punishment if they dare to go

against the will of the leaders and so they avoid doing anything that would be seen as going

against the leadership in action or word. Everything that is done by the people is done out of

what they deem as respect and honor to their leaders but to the rest of us appears to be based on

fear of punishment and this is because, in reality, it is out of fear of punishment. However,

something to realize about North Koreans and yet another aspect of this puzzle that makes things

difficult in dealing with North Korea and its leaders is that the people of North Korea really

don’t know any better and those that do are either quiet about it or held up in prison camps (Oh,

2013). So, while for most of us, being in a constant state of hunger or fear or sickness would be

bad and even wrong in some cases, for those living in North Korea it is part of everyday life. But

this aspect of how most people are forced to live in North Korea is part of the puzzle of coming

to a peace with the country, whether or not the people know any better or not. The reason it is

such an important element is because of effort for peace will impact the people and I don’t

anticipate that it will affect them in a good way. Any increased threat that North Korea perceives

will be dealt with and unfortunately, it will likely be at the cost of the people and their wellbeing.
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The second part of this first consequence and their causes relate to the ruling family and

how it is structured. The ruling family is just that, it’s a family, otherwise known as a dynasty.

Because of this, there are many intertwining and complex dynamics that are present and virtually

none of them are known to the outside world. But we do know a little bit and we know this by

developments that have occurred since Kim Jong-un has taken power. As is the case in many

dynasties the leader at some point or another feels threatened by a possible challenge to their

authority. Whether this threat is real or just a product of their imagination is beside the point as

leaders of dynasties will act regardless. In the case of Kim Jong-un, he has decided to deal with

any perceived threats with force and in particular in killing those he has felt threatened by. The

killing of his half-brother as well as over twenty others, including his uncle who helped him gain

the power he has now, illustrates this usual normal nature that we see from members of dynasties

when they feel at all threatened. But this very nature is also yet another piece to consider when

dealing with North Korea and possible peace. If Kim Jung-un is willing to kill his own family to

stay in power and get what he wants for sure he will be willing to put the lives of the people of

North Korea and others at risk for the same reason if he feels at all threatened or at a

disadvantaged.

Second Consequence

For the second consequence of North Korea’s behavior, I will turn to outside its borders

and talk about its impact on the greater world, in particular when it comes to its nuclear weapons

program. As virtually everyone in the world outside of North Korea is aware of and in some

cases, continually feels and experiences, the very real danger that is the nuclear weapons

program of North Korea. For years now North Korea has been bent on developing a nuclear

weapon. As of right now too, by many accounts, they appear to be getting closer and closer to
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achieving their ambition with the most glaring evidence of this being continued missile tests. The

most recent missile test was back in November of 2017 but it was also North Korea’s most

advanced and furthest traveling missile to date. It flew right over Japan and thankfully landed in

the water on the eastern side of the county but the test did put Japan and the rest of the world on

even greater alert than it already was. Figure 1 below (Times, 2017) shows a map of a series of

projected distances of missiles launched by North Korea over the past several years and as the

figure shows the distance and advancement of the missiles continues to increase and this fact has

been outlined repeatedly in news articles and journal reports (Ji, 2017).

The Outcome

Now with the consequences and causes of North Korea’s behavior outlined, I will now

give my assessment and analysis of what the end game is likely to be for North Korea.

What North Korea Really (Probably) Wants

On an overall basis, the world and its leaders do what it does and don’t do for one main

reason: power. When countries go to war against each other or when they come together on some

sort of common ground, both are for the same reason and that reason is related to power, either

achieving more power for themselves and/or attempting to take power from some other country

or people group or even individual. North Korea is no different in this. The actions that we’ve

seen by North Korea leading up to this point and any action we see going forward, either good or

bad, all point back to the country’s desire for greater power and recognition of that power.

Nuclear missile tests continued harsh rhetoric from the ruling party towards America and its

allies as well as the leaders’ propaganda machine within the country and its dislike and bitterness

towards South Korea and its allies are all examples of this desire and effort by North Korea for
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power. This bitterness and dislike towards South Korea stem from the Korean War outcome

which was unfavorable towards North Korea both militarily but also ideologically (Bae, 2011).

With this power-hungry nature of North Korea, in my view anyway, being the crux of

what is behind North Korea’s actions and why it has, continues to, and will in the future, do and

say what it will, the question remains why has North Korea decided to go the route it has

especially in terms of its nuclear development and most recently the reaching out towards its

enemies, in particular, the United States (Neuman, 2018)? To assess this question we must turn

to North Korea’s only ally and neighbor and that is China.

How North Korea is Trying to Get What It Wants

China has grown and developed into a nation of vast wealth and power both

economically and politically. Their presence and importance on the world stage has also grown

and become more defined and recognized by the rest of the world, especially over the past

several years. But, this was not always the case. China was not always as powerful or important

on the world stage as it is no. As every other country, the increase in their power and influence

on the world began with several key events in the countries life and, ironically, it was their

development of and testing of its nuclear weaponry turned out to be one of those pivotal events

that occurred on the way to where China is now (Figure 2) (Era, 2014). China completed its first

Atomic bomb test in October of 1964 and this test also came at a time of increased tensions

between Vietnam and the US which China also got involved in by amassing troops on its border

with Vietnam (Relations, 2018). Before this, China as a country was present and was affected by

world events but not until this nuclear bomb test and the years following did they have a

commanding presence on the world stage. This increased presence on the world stage can be

seen in several ways including in the form of the presence of US government officials increasing
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with US President Nixon being the first notable US President to visit the country and begin to

normalize relations between the US and China. Other events that helped to solidify China’s

power in the world came during the Carter administration when the “One China Policy” was

acknowledged. Such actions, as well as others, continued to increase and grow in importance

going forward and while China’s nuclear test in 1964 was not the main event that triggered these

events, it certainly had a big impact and helped to bring China to where it is now.

Looking at North Kore, it is not hard to see that this same sort of events is currently being

played out in North Korea. From the country’s nuclear tests to its rhetoric and now with its,

apparent, willingness to talk about denuclearization with the US and others, all this is a very

similar pattern to the path China took to where it’s at now. One can anticipate, therefore, and

with a fairly high conviction level, that North Korea will continue emulating China’s path

towards greater power and influence in the world and will at some point reach the same place in

some form as to where China is now.

Peace: Will It Happen?

With all this being said then and with all the reasons and assessments as to why North

Korea is doing what’s it doing and what the likely path forward is for the country, the question

remains, is there peace in the future between North Korea and the rest of the world?

In my opinion, I think the answer is yes but not because it necessarily should happen but

because it will have to happen both for North Korea’s sake but especially for the sake of the rest

of the world. The reality is that North Korea will continue its push towards greater power and a

greater recognition of that power by the rest of the world. They will continue to test and fire

missiles towards its enemies and at some point, in the future, the country will have the ability to
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successfully fit a nuclear warhead on its missiles and there will be a test of such a missile as well.

North Korea will also very likely continue rhetoric of wanting to talk with the US and other

countries about stepping back from its nuclear weapons program but remember that it will be, as

will all other actions by North Korea, for the reason of gaining more power in this world. So,

while they may discuss denuclearization or any other form of the word, they will do so with the

aim of gaining whatever they need to gain more power. Therefore, I think there will have to be

peace that is established between North Korea and the rest of the world for if there is no effort on

the world’s part then North Korea will force “peace” to happen and that will not be a good thing!

If North Korea feels like it must force what they deem as “peace” to happen it will be on their

terms and in their own way which as we’ve already seen, would not be a good thing as it would

mean them using weapons to do so as well as other hostile-like actions. So, it would be wise for

the US and its allies to get ahead of North Korea and start the path towards peace in some

capacity but do so in a way that allows North Korea to at least feel like it is gaining the power it

desires.

Conclusion

In conclusion then, taking into consideration all the viewpoints and angles of analysis and

reasoning discussed in this paper, I think the answer to the question in the title is a yes but it is a

soft yes because whether actual peace will happen or not will depend not only on North Korea

but it will depend more so on the US and its allies with a recognition that North Korea is after the

same thing every other nation in this world is after and that is power and a recognition of that

power. So, to bring about peace, the US and its allies must recognize this and approach an

attempt for peace with this viewpoint in mind otherwise whatever peace that comes will not

really be peaceful and the manner it comes will be a dangerous and volatile road indeed.
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Bibliography

Bae, I. (2011). People-to-Peaple Dialogue between North and South Korea: Looking Ahead.

Negotiation Journal, 29 - 44.

Era, T. N. (2014). The Nuclear Era. Retrieved from The Nuclear Era:

http://www.thenuclearera.com/1963-1970.html

Gale, a. C. (2017). North Korea. Retrieved from Opposing Viewpoints:

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=OVIC&u=mnaswsu&id=GALE%7CPC3010999110&

v=2.1&it=r&sid=summon&authCount=1

Ji, M. H. (2017). Advances in North Korea's missile program and what comes next. Arms

Control Today, 6 - 11.

Neuman, S. (2018, April 9). North Korea Ready To Talk About Denuclearization, U.S. Officials

Say. Retrieved from NRP: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-

way/2018/04/09/600741594/north-korea-ready-to-talk-about-denuclearization-u-s-

officials-say

Oh, K. (2013). Understanding North Korea. Foreign Policy Research Institute .

Relations, C. o. (2018). U.S. Relations with China: 1949 - 2018. Retrieved from Council on

Foreign Relations: https://www.cfr.org/timeline/us-relations-china

Times, N. (2017, November 28). North Korea Fires a Ballistic Missile, in a Further Challenge

to Trump. Retrieved from NY Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/28/world/asia/north-korea-missile-test.html
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Figures

Figure 1. North Korea Missile Projected Distance Over Time

Figure 2. China’s Test of its First Nuclear Weapon, October 1964