Author: Victor Cha
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062906445
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 479

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Book Description
In The Impossible State, seasoned international-policy expert and lauded scholar Victor Cha pulls back the curtain on provocative, isolationist North Korea, providing our best look yet at its history and the rise of the Kim family dynasty and the obsessive personality cult that empowers them. Cha illuminates the repressive regime’s complex economy and culture, its appalling record of human rights abuses, and its belligerent relationship with the United States, and analyzes the regime’s major security issues—from the seemingly endless war with its southern neighbor to its frightening nuclear ambitions—all in light of the destabilizing effects of Kim Jong-il’s death and the transition of power to his unpredictable heir. Ultimately, this engagingly written, authoritative, and highly accessible history warns of a regime that might be closer to its end than many might think—a political collapse for which America and its allies may be woefully unprepared.

Author: Darrell Hugh Zemitis
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Korea (North)
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Book Description
In recent years, North Korea has been plagued by economic decline, famine, and international isolation. Due to the current situation in North Korea, there has been recent speculation about the future of North Korea. Some feel that it will collapse, others hypothesize that North Korea will gradually reform and open itself to the outside world. The 'hard landing' and 'soft landing' scenarios for North Korea future are discussed, and the argument for a North Korean 'soft landing' is made in this thesis, based on recent diplomatic events, and internal changes in North Korea. Regardless of the future of North Korea, each scenario carries with it certain implications and essential tasks for the United States Army in Korea. These implications and tasks are explored, and recommendations for detailing with the future of North Korea are put forward."--Abstract

Author: Heonik Kwon
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 1442215771
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
This timely, pathbreaking study of North Korea’s political history and culture sheds invaluable light on the country’s unique leadership continuity and succession. Leading scholars Heonik Kwon and Byung-Ho Chung begin by tracing Kim Il Sung’s rise to power during the Cold War. They show how his successor, his eldest son, Kim Jong Il, sponsored the production of revolutionary art to unleash a public political culture that would consolidate Kim’s charismatic power and his own hereditary authority. The result was the birth of a powerful modern theater state that sustains North Korean leaders’ sovereignty now to a third generation. In defiance of the instability to which so many revolutionary states eventually succumb, the durability of charismatic politics in North Korea defines its exceptional place in modern history. Kwon and Chung make an innovative contribution to comparative socialism and postsocialism as well as to the anthropology of the state. Their pioneering work is essential for all readers interested in understanding North Korea’s past and future, the destiny of charismatic power in modern politics, the role of art in enabling this power.

Author: Victor D. Cha
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231548249
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
Victor D. Cha and David C. Kang’s Nuclear North Korea was first published in 2003 amid the outbreak of a lasting crisis over the North Korean nuclear program. It promptly became a landmark of an ongoing debate in academic and policy circles about whether to engage or contain North Korea. Fifteen years later, as North Korea tests intercontinental ballistic missiles and the U.S. president angrily refers to Kim Jong-un as “Rocket Man,” Nuclear North Korea remains an essential guide to the difficult choices we face. Coming from different perspectives—Kang believes the threat posed by Pyongyang has been inflated and endorses a more open approach, while Cha is more skeptical and advocates harsher measures, though both believe that some form of engagement is necessary—the authors together present authoritative analysis of one of the world’s thorniest challenges. They refute a number of misconceptions and challenge the faulty thinking that surrounds the discussion of North Korea, particularly the idea that North Korea is an irrational actor. Cha and Kang look at the implications of a nuclear North Korea, assess recent and current approaches to sanctions and engagement, and provide a functional framework for constructive policy. With a new chapter on the way forward for the international community in light of continued nuclear tensions, this book is of lasting relevance to understanding the state of affairs on the Korean peninsula.

Author: Bruce E. Bechtol
Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.
ISBN: 161234612X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
North Korea has remained a thorn in the side of the United States ever since its creation in the aftermath of the Korean conflict of 1950 - 1953. Crafting a foreign policy that effectively deals with North Korea, while still ensuring stability and security on the Korean Peninsula - and in Northeast Asia as a whole - has proved very challenging for successive American administrations. In the wake of ruler Kim Jong-il's death in December 2011, analysts and policymakers continue to speculate about the effect his last years as leader will have on the future of North Korea. Bruce Bechtol, Jr. conte.

Author: Andrew Yeo
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108897428
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 149

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Book Description
Under Kim Jong-un, North Korea has experienced growing economic markets, an emerging 'nouveau riche,' and modest levels of urban development. To what extent is North Korean politics and society changing? How has the growth of markets transformed state-society relations? This Element evaluates the shifting relationship between state, society, and markets in a deeply authoritarian context. If the regime implements controlled economic measures, extracts rent, and subsumes the market economy into its ideology, the state will likely retain strong authoritarian control. Conversely, if it fails to incorporate markets into its legitimating message, as private actors build informal trust networks, share information, and collude with state bureaucrats, more fundamental changes in state-society relations are in order. By opening the 'black box' of North Korea, this Element reveals how the country manages to teeter forward, and where its domestic future may lie.

Author: Mason Richey
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000414116
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
This book considers both Koreas - North Korea and South Korea - to examine possible pathways for the years leading up to 2032 and beyond, thus offering a composite picture of Korea and its strategic relevance in Asia and the world at large. Through a combined South-North Olympic team and an effort of jointly hosting the Games, Republic of Korea president Moon Jae-in has marked the year 2032 as special in the future of the Korean Peninsula. Although the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has expressed scepticism about a combined hosting of the Games, the expectation in Korea is that this event will underline the shared destiny of the people inhabiting the peninsula and realign two states still caught in an ideologically fraught civil conflict that is one of the last vestiges of the Cold War. Chapters begin with a brief historical review and analysis of the present, before moving to consider how these will shape the next decade, drawing comparative and complementary analyses. No matter how contrasting the contemporary trajectories of both North and South Korea might appear, ‘Korea’ as a singular entity is an old concept still containing great possibilities. As the ongoing inter-Korean reconciliation process underscores, the futures of North and South Korea can be found in a complementary singular Korea, which would again represent an important political, strategic, cultural, and social space in Asia. An evaluation of the future trajectory, social awareness and perception of the Koreas, this book offers a valuable contribution to the study of North and South Korea and Asian Politics.

Author: Bruce E. Bechtol, Jr.
Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.
ISBN: 1597975621
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 450

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Book Description
Since the 1990s, the American government has under prioritized the North Korean threat to global security, according to Bruce Bechtol, an associate professor of political science at Angelo State University. Because North Korea appears economically weak and politically unstable, it is therefore often categorized as a state on the brink of collapse, or a failed state. But Bechtol makes a convincing case that North Korea is more complex and menacing than it how it has often been characterized."Defiant Failed State" shows how the North Korean government has adapted to the post Cold War environment and poses a multifaceted danger to U.S. national security and that of its allies. Bechtol analyzes North Korea s military capabilities, nuclear program, proliferation, and leadership succession to mine the answers to important questions such as, is North Korea a failing or failed state? Is it capable of surviving indefinitely? Why and how does it present such risk to Asia and the United States and its allies?This book sheds new light on the nature of the North Korean threat and the key foreign policy issues that remain unresolved between the United States and South Korea. It is essential reading for scholars, policymakers, military strategists, functional and regional specialists, and anyone who is interested in East Asian affairs."

Author: Andrew Scobell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Korea (North)
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description
The author seeks to assist planners and decisionmakers in thinking about and preparing for possible future contingencies concerning North Korea. He does not dwell on war or conflict scenarios involving North Korea because military planners have already focused considerable effort and attention on these. It is entirely possible that the fate of the country as a political, territorial, and juridical entity is intimately bound up with the fate of the Kim Jong Il regime, but one should not assume this to be so. In other words, the collapse of the Kim regime may not lead to the collapse of North Korea as a state. Moreover, one should not assume that even if the regime collapse is followed by state collapse that these events would inexorably lead to Korean unification.

Author: Noland, Marcus
Publisher: Peterson Institute
ISBN: 9780881325935
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 462

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Book Description