North Korea's Hybrid Threat

North Korea, formally known as the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a relic of the Cold War and the world’s last remaining totalitarian Stalinist dictatorship. Arguably the most secretive state in the world, North Korea poses a unique set of challenges to the world, especially to its democratic and capitalist neighbor, South Korea, formally known as the Republic of Korea (ROK). As one of the last remnants of the Cold War era, North Korea remains an anomaly of the international system due to its unpredictable nature and disregard for international norms. With the recent bombardment of the South Korean Island of Yeongpyong and the sinking of the warship Cheonan, tensions between the two Koreas are at the lowest point since

The U.S. helped to divide the Korean peninsula at the end of World War II, and then waged war against North Korea in the 1950s. Although the U.S. signed a peace agreement rather than a peace treaty with North Korea after the war, its policy toward the country changed. Instead of trying to overthrow the North Korea government, the U.S. government adopted a policy of containing communism. During the 1980’s, associations between North Korea and the U.S. start to take on a new diplomatic form. North Korea’s nuclear weapons program had become a pressing international issue

Since the 1950’s North Korea has posed as dangerous threat to The United States and its allies. With North Korea development of Nuclear arms and its consistent hostile rhetoric and actions towards the United States. With the North Korea’s development of a long range ICBM, more now than ever the United States has been put into a position where its and many of its

In “Does North Korea Have the H-Bomb?,” Patricia Smith informs the readers about North Korea’s latest nuclear test and the country’s history. Kim Jong Un alarmed the world when he revealed that his nation had detonated a hydrogen bomb which would signify an increased risk. While the test may not have been a hydrogen bomb, it signified the threat North Korea poses to the world and proof that the country is working on advancing its weapons. The conflict between the United States and North Korea began when the Soviet Union established a communist regime in North Korea and the U.S. controlled the South. While South Korea developed into a democratic and high-tech country, North Korea developed into a communist country and a repressive regime. Furthermore,

In order to protect and advance U.S. national interests, while operating within the increasingly volatile environment on the Korean Peninsula, the United States must remain vigilant in deterring activities by the Kim Jung-un regime that threaten U.S. interests. Additionally, the DoD must remain

In Asia, North Korea continues to test nuclear weapons, and the oppressive regime is threatening to the security in the continent, and especially to our allies in South Korea. Currently there are “more than a million service members on either side of the demilitarized zone on the Korean Peninsula” [25]. Therefore “vigilance and readiness” are a top priority in the region. China’s recent actions in their modernization and buildup of the county’s military show China’s assertion of their growing economic power. China,

The international community today is witnessing an increasing spread in weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles. Especially, the nuclear threat of the ambiguous North Koreans, which have the capabilities of striking South Korea, Japan, and the Continental United States.

The Korean peninsula has been a volatile area since the end of World War II. Today it is the last example of a single nation divided between two states, represents the longest division of ideologies, and is the archetype of enduring Cold War symptoms. Although small in size, The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has been the biggest obstacle to regional stability in Asia, its militant and hostile policies posing a threat not only to western aligned nations, but also to its former and present benefactors, Russia and China. This dangerous country represents a very important target for the United States’ Intelligence Community, an extremely difficult one to exploit, but one that cannot be ignored as North Korea’s ambitions

Pollock stated, “..North Korea has repeatedly argued that without nuclear weapons it would be vulnerable to US decapitation and regime change akin to the fate of Saddam Hussein..” Since the manufacturing of lethal weapons has increased dramatically in the recent year's countries fear what North Korea is capable of doing.This imposes fear among their own citizens and other neighboring countries. “In a deeper psychological sense, Kim seems to regard nuclear weapons as the regime's ultimate form of protection, guaranteeing its survival in a highly malign world” (Pollock). North Korea desires deterrence to protect their country from this harmful world. Kim Jong-un desires deterrence within North Korea because he gains more power and feels protected from

The Internet, touted in much of the world as a vehicle for personal liberation, serves in North Korea as a pillar supporting Asia 's most authoritarian government. The DPRK has embraced the World Wide Web as the latest means of acquiring, processing, and disseminating the foreign technical information required for domestic research and development, while at the same time barring the door against information contrary to its ideology. Due to the transparency of many foreign governments outside of the DPRK, collection is made possible via newspapers, television, and the Internet. Provided that North Korea has the proper translation personnel at hand arguably the largest stumbling block for open-source collection, North Korea can make use of the vast amount of data provided through the multiple outlets of Western media. Liaison Department is responsible for collecting the information. Since OSINT is fairly cheap to use, North Korea can use this to get results by pointing the US looking for information in a different direction. The time it takes putting the pieces together, just like a puzzle, could create enough time to gather the Intel North Korea needed to determine how US would respond if they were to

Back in Washington, President Clinton’s administration concluded that North Korea was reviving their nuclear missile program and demanded access to the suspected facilities being built. Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, granted access to multiple locations to U.S. officials for inspection of facilities in exchange for financial aid and food (Hathaway & Tama 724). North Korea’s negotiation for aid from the U.S. does not come as a surprise for the simple fact that citizens living under the supreme leadership of Kim Jong-un live in absolute poverty. Although the state-run government experiences hardship by trying to provide an adequate supply of food for citizens; the government spends a huge sum of money to maintain a large military force.

Once the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s the bipolar world order disintegrated with it, leaving the United States as the sole global superpower. Yet, the communism was not the only concern of Americans. In the early 1980s, this capitalist power already started sensing an overcoming threat of the international terrorism, which led to the emergence of a new group of enemies, namely, the rogue states. These countries are seen as a danger to the new unipolar world. The United States of America assumed a responsibility to contain these states and/or transform them into successfully functioning democracies. Currently this is being done by military interventions and sanctions. However, one special state arises – North Korea . It is the

Isolated, underdeveloped, and strictly controlled by a regime, North Korea stands as the only totalitarian state to have survived a change in leadership (Behind the Wall…, 2012). North Korea maintains their control and power over the people through many different techniques: stranglehold on information, secret police, concentration camps, and control of the country’s economy. However there is one other factor that drives great fear into its people and the world; their development of nuclear weapons along with their propaganda techniques. On March 3rd, 2016, just last Thursday, North Korea under the direct order of Kim Jong Un, “fired short-range projectiles into the sea” to express their anger over the recent adoption of harsh U.N. sanctions (North Korea makes…, 2016). The following day, the Supreme leader “ordered his military on standby for nuclear strikes at any time” in order to “ramp-up propaganda push in the face of what it portrays as an effort by South Korea and the U.S to overthrow its leadership” (North Korea makes…, 2016). All these threats of nuclear weapons and the North Korea’s slay approach on launching their bombs have created a uproar throughout the world.

North Korea appears on the international stage as a country existing beyond the world we all know. It isolates its citizens from the rest of international community and does not obey any rules determined by international law, but requires respect and recognition. Moreover, North Korea is one of the countries that remains aggressive towards its neighbors and applies various terrorist techniques, i.e. illegal contraband, political terror and mass abductions of other countries’ citizens in its foreign policy. The reasons for which the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) behaves so unpredictably and irrationally are diversified. First of all, the DPRK as a country is managed very irrationally – regimes of Kim Il-sung and

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) increase in the display of military force, including 30 ballistic missile tests within the last 16 months, reflect a growing sense of danger to East Asia. While the DPRK is economically dependent upon the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Kim Jong-un’s military ambitions have further strained the Sino-North Korean alliance. Starting in the 1950s, the PRC has economically and politically supported the DPRK, but upon Kim Jon-il’s 2009 nuclear weapons test, the PRC has shifted roles from supporter to punisher. This current relationship trend of the Sino-North Korean alliance may be used to predict and design for the possibility of Korean reunification or to economically strain the PRC. The