By Dingding Chen
In order to successfully approach North Korea, steer clear of these unhelpful myths.
No country annoys its neighbors like North Korea. With its fourth and most recent nuclear test, North Korea has, once again, put itself in front of all major powers in Asia and beyond. As usual, most commentary has focused on whether North Korea was bluffing with a nuclear test and whose failures should be blamed for this increasingly disturbing situation. These debates are not new. For policymakers, the hour is urgent: What can be done about North Korea and its seemingly crazy dictatorship? Before we can even begin to answer this question, it’s best to take care to not fall prey to these four common myths about North Korea.
First, is the myth that North Korea under the young leader Kim Jong-un is a crazy and irrational actor. In fact, in reality, it is far from this. Actually all the evidence suggest that North Korea and the Kim family have always been rational–maybe too rational. Everything North Korea has done so far centers around the central purpose of all countries in an anarchical international environment: survival. We can say this is the case for North Korea especially because its survival, from the perspective of its leaders, is under serious threat. A nuclear test, if successful, can greatly increase the likelihood of the regime’s survival. This doesn’t change the fact that a nuclear North Korea might be bad news for other countries in Asia.
Second, there is the myth that the Kim family is deeply resented by the North Korean people and, as such, the regime’s implosion is imminent. Again, this is a Western myth. North Korea, in a way, is a unique country because of its own history and culture. There is little sense of it being a ‘nation-state’ as most other countries understand the term. In North Korea, the Kim family is the nation and the state. Thus, to defend the Kim family is to defend the very idea of this nation-state. There is no other way to imagine North Korea. Of course, there are some brave North Koreans who try to stand up for their freedoms. But do not count on them bringing about a regime change. Any substantial reforms in the future will likely come from a top-down process. In this sense, we should expect the Kim regime to stay around for a while.
Read the full story at The Diplomat