North Korea
Reports
Katharine H.S. Moon
Nonresident Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Center for East Asia Policy Studies
Richard C. Bush
The Michael H. Armacost Chair
Chen-Fu and Cecilia Yen Koo Chair in Taiwan Studies
Co-Director - Center for East Asia Policy Studies
Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, John L. Thornton China Center
Evans J.R. Revere
Nonresident Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Center for East Asia Policy Studies
[North Korea has used its nuclear and missile tests to] establish strategic relevance in the region. We can’t underestimate how North Korea was devastated during the Korean War, so the Kim family’s goal is to ensure the country’s survival, but also their own survival. [Their missile program] was for all of those things — deterring the U.S., deterring South Korea, deterring Japan.
Under Kim Jong Il’s rule, a useful way of understanding the dynamics of North Korea and the U.S. is the idea of cycles. North Korea comes to dialogue, then retracts, using the U.S.’s ‘hostile policy’ as an excuse to conduct missile or nuclear tests, then re-enters dialogue to dampen sanctions implementation or reduce tension.
