The Ends, Ways, and Means of
US Policy Towards North Korea
By
Cynthia M. Lewis
Inter/National Security Studies
Lesson 8
22 June 2012
Instructor: Dr. Bruce Bechtol Jr.
Air Command and Staff College
Distance Learning
Maxwell AFB, AL One of the security challenges facing the United States (US) is the US and North Korea relations. The US policy toward North Korea is diplomatic yet firm. North Korea is our longest standing adversary. Policy toward North Korea is one of the most enduring foreign policy challenges. In this essay I will discuss the security challenge of U.S. and North Korea, the theory of international relation, realism, how it illuminates this challenge and how the instruments of
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The first is external: the challenge posed by its nuclear weapons program and the threat of proliferation off the Korean Peninsula. The second is essentially but not wholly internal: the challenge posed by the pending transfer of power in Pyongyang and potential for instability as the process plays out. This complex reality underscores the need for balance and strategic patience if the twin dangers of proliferation and instability on the peninsula are to be successfully managed. In order to produce these changes in the policy, there must be a determination of the ends/ goals, ways for achieving the goals, and means as the instruments and activities for implementing ways. The history of the relationship between the United States and North Korea led up to today’s policy of dealing with North Korea through diplomatic channels. 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
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
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 the article “Should the United take more aggressive action to prevent North Korea from building a nuclear arsenal?”, it explains how the power of possessing lethal weapons can affect international affairs, and this is a concern that U.S. wants to prevent a war. The article describes how this became an issue after the Korean War; U.S. tried to prevent communism to spread, so in order to do it, the Peninsula of Korea was divided in the 38th parallel, making North Korea communism and South Korea democrat supported by the U.S. Furthermore, the article argued about the nuclear arsenal that North Korea possess since the early 2000’s and U.S. tried to stop them to develop such weapon. In order to make them stop, U.S. and many other countries tries
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,
East Asia continues to present a broad spectrum of opportunities and challenges to the United States, our allies, and partners. The United States Government (USG) and Department of Defense (DoD) continues to work closely with its allies and partners to build relationships and capacity vital to advancing U.S. national interests of security, prosperity, international order, and the promotion of universal values. The most profound and alarming trend within the East Asia region over the past several years is the increasing belligerence and defiance of the Kim Jung-un regime of North Korea. The United States regards the coercive activities by North Korea, in particular its pursuit of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and ballistic missile capabilities, to comprise the most urgent security threat in the region. The USG is fully committed to maintaining peace throughout the Korean Peninsula by effectively working with our allies and other regional states to deter and defend against North Korean military provocations, weapons proliferation, and illicit trafficking; and to support enforcement of international sanctions restricting North Korean arms trade and other prohibited activities.
allies and interests, resulting in the stationing of U.S. forces in South Korea and Japan. However, it has also been the subject of a policy experiment. Both Republican and Democratic administrations have tried to engage Pyongyang in order to improve relations and end its objectionable behavior. That policy, albeit politically controversial, particularly during the Clinton administration, is probably here to stay, not just because its attraction has been compelling to a cross-section of mainstream Democrats and Republicans, but also because political trends in Northeast Asia, particularly the ongoing rapprochement between North and South Korea, only reinforce the logic of engagement. The key question for the new administration is how it should shape its diplomatic policy towards North Korea to further U.S. interests in a region possibly transitioning away from the cold war confrontation of the past five decades to some unknown status.
In terms of America’s opinions at the time of the conflict between the United States and North Korea, historians such as Bruce Cumings found the conflict tiresome and pointless. According to his article, “Time to End the Korean War,” published in 1997, Cumings asks, “Why are we still in Korea, and still subject to the possibility of a war that could kill tens of thousands of Americans and perhaps millions of Koreans? (78, para. 1.).” His frustration is understandable. The United States and North Korea have been in conflict for over ten years at the time the article was published. According to Cumings, he believes that North Korea is none of our business. He says, “If North Korea is the worst place in the world, as some think, what difference
This briefing will address the necessities of United Nations to pressure the Democratic People of the Republic Korea, also known as North Korea, by adding sanction to the country. As a hegemonic state, the United States is a significant state to play a role as the leader to enforce DPRK to withdraw itself from the threat of the global security and morality. DPRK had broken many regulations of the UN treaties on militarization, nuclear activities, and violation of human rights. Although the US is one the countries that has the most stock of nuclear weapons , it is aware of its destructiveness and vulnerability more than any country that hold nuclear weapons today. After continuous negotiations to suspend its conductivity of nuclear activities, DPRK had repeatedly engaged and disengaged its pursuit for a nuclear reform. Should the U.S. violate DPRK sovereignty and prioritize world peace and order? As an established great militarily powerful state, the United States must persuade the UN to keep adding sanctions against the DPRK.
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
Understanding how North Korea as a country defines itself in a changing world. Where do they derive their customs and practices, political standings and military power? Define North Korea’s history leading into the modern age and define its culture and characteristics and how they interact with the world today. Understanding a subject as broad as the term culture begins where the culture began with the birth of civilization and the people that influenced it. There are many factors that play a role in the shaping of a nation none so much as turmoil and conflict and the Korean peninsula saw its fair share for the better part of a millennia. A complete statistical breakdown of North Korea shows a struggling nation that strongly depends on
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.
Beginning in the early 1940’s, Korea has been a split nation; the great divide that happened in initially in 1945 was just the beginning of what would become one of the world’s most infamous splits of a country. Radically different in political regime and agenda, these countries provide for a very complex case study of border conflict. Due to its extremely repressive regime, North Korea stands as one of the worst places to call home in the world, while South Korea is incredibly more liberal. Despite the inescapable amounts of propaganda imposed on the citizens of North Korea, the current generations of North Koreans hold ties to South Korea through separated family, making South Korea a very attractive but forbidden land. While South Korea continues to center its foreign policy on loosening the strict rule of the North Korean government, North Korea remains stubborn and the struggle remains in tow with the stark differentiation between ideologies politically, militarily, and culturally.
This article deals with the United States and its attempts to deal with the dangerous matters of North Korea. Some of the problems that were brought up in this article were North Korea’s plan to restart a plutonium based nuclear program at Yongbyon, North Korea’s plan to build a new highly enriched uranium (HEU) nuclear program, and the tension that emerged between the United States and South Korea. Even though many problems were occurring, there were some positive things that were happening at the time. The United States began negotiating with North Korea and South Korea about establishing railroad links, demining portions of the demilitarized zone, allowing athletes to compete in the Asian games, and allowing abductees to visit Japan.
The theory of Realism provides reasons why North Korea has positioned the nuclear weapon debate at the centre of its policy. One of the fundamental assumptions of Realism is in fact that each state, embedded in an international order characterized by a condition of antagonism, attempt to pursue its
It can be said that in the case of the USA and North Korea, the current tensions developed further because of the start of nuclear weapons programmes in North Korea which created panic in US government (Pevehouse and Goldstein, 2017, p. 31). Realism highlights how this shift in the balance of power threatens US security as they are no longer a more