North Korean Politics And Foreign Policy

This course analyzes Kim Jong Un’s summit diplomacy with South Korea and the United States as an approach to simultaneously pursue security and economic development. The Kim Jong-un regime in North Korea triggered worldwide concerns not only for South Korea but also surrounding countries of the Korean peninsula. It is a transitional period of a country that possesses nuclear weapons. North Korea has successfully confronted the United States for more than twenty years and it conducted nuclear tests in spite of repeated warnings from the United States and China. And now, they seemed to be successful to realize unprecedented three generation succession from Kim Il Sung to Kim Jong-il and then to Kim Jong-un. And now, he seems to be successfully engaged with Moon Jae-in and Donald Trump. This course aims to provide knowledges on how to view North Korea, how to evaluate North Korea`s provocations, and how to deal with North Korea. Methodologically, this course relies heavily on perceptional approaches to decision making thereby focusing on top leadership`s threat perceptions. In the first half of the course, focuses are given to Kremlinology, leadership analysis, and the succession of the Kim dynasty. In the latter half, historical reviews on North Korea`s foreign policy during the Cold War period as well as post-Cold War period will demonstrate how North Korea`s threat perception influences its provocative foreign policy. North Korea`s nuclear diplomacy vis-a-vis the United States will be the core part of this lecture. Then, the course moves to discuss influences of surrounding countries, namely, China, Japan and Russia. Lastly, class discussions will be held on the future of North Korea, unification and inter-Korean relations.