North Korea Archives - Page 19 of 50 - Foreign Policy In Focus

Two Leaders, Two Deaths

by John Feffer | Dec 19, 2011

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and Czech leader Vaclav Havel occupied the opposite ends of the political continuum. One fought against the corrupt communist powers; the other consolidated communist rule. One tried to inject morality into the practice of politics while the other pursued political ends with little or no reference to morality. Having made their marks first in the artistic sphere, they were both in some sense reluctant politicians. Once in power, they managed to stabilize their respective countries during difficult times. But they failed in their efforts at more dramatic transformation.

Succession Questions Persist in Wake of Kim Jong-il’s Death

by Greg Chaffin | Dec 19, 2011

Kim Jong-il reportedly kept his son Kim Jong-un on the sidelines for fear of a challenge to his authority.

Newt Gingrich: Right About EMPs, Wrong About Who’d Use Them

by Conn Hallinan | Dec 15, 2011

If electromagnetic pulse weapons pose a threat, it’s not from Iran or North Korea, as Newt Gingrich warns, but from the United States.

Showing Juntas Some Love

by Russ Wellen | Nov 19, 2011

North Korea and Burma have been the beneficiary of foreign policy initiatives by China and the United States respectively.

Should We Engage North Korea?

by Shiran Shen | Nov 10, 2011

The recent two-day talks between the United States and North Korea were a good start, but it also shows that a diplomacy contingent upon denuclearization will not likely break the deadlock. Perhaps the pending leadership succession from Kim Jong-il to his heir apparent Kim Jong-eun provides a window of opportunity for the United States to effectively engage the North through a different strategy, and denuclearization can happen from there.

Playing With Fire on the Korean Peninsula

by Conn Hallinan | Nov 9, 2011

The six-party talks may or may not resolve the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula, but they are the only game in town.

Does Kim Need to Keep His Nukes to Avoid Gaddafi’s Fate?

by Russ Wellen | Oct 29, 2011

A massive army, as North Korea possesses, may have the same deterrent effect as nuclear arms.

Review: The Survival of North Korea

by John Feffer | Sep 29, 2011

Despite the predictions of many obituary writers, North Korea is still around. It was supposed to collapse with the Eastern European communist regimes, but it didn’t. It was supposed to crumble during the great famine of the mid-1990s, but it didn’t. The hard-line policies of the George W. Bush administration were supposed to do the trick, but they didn’t. The North Korean economy is in lousy shape, the ruling elite is a gerontocracy, and several thousand North Korean citizens vote with their feet every year. But the government in Pyongyang soldiers on.

Kim Jong Il’s Visit to Russia: Just More Mixed Messages?

by Ikhwan Kim | Aug 27, 2011

Russia expressed optimism about its pipeline project from Russia to North Korea to South Korea.

Review: No Exit

by Shiran Shen | Aug 10, 2011

North Korea is of perennial security concern to both its neighbors and the United States. In late 2010, satellite data indicated that North Korea possessed a uranium enrichment facility, and now a potential third nuclear test is underway.No Exit: North Korea, Nuclear Weapons and International Security is one of the few books to date in the English language that provides a detailed, beyond-the-Beltway account of North Korea’s history, leadership, and nuclear development.