The main purpose of this study is to examine why North Korea creates tensions on the Korean peninsula. In another words, this paper is an attempt to learn what North Korea wishes to achieve by creating tensions and to observe under what conditions and...
The main purpose of this study is to examine why North Korea creates tensions on the Korean peninsula. In another words, this paper is an attempt to learn what North Korea wishes to achieve by creating tensions and to observe under what conditions and for whom North Korea employs a crisis strategy.
This paper assumes that there are three types of political situation in North Korean leadership’s mind: a dangerous situation, a tolerable situation and a favorable situation. A tolerable situation refers to a condition, in which North Korea can carry on through political, economic and diplomatic hardships. This paper argues that North Korea creates tensions when a ‘swamp of dangers’ forms and a ‘window of opportunity’ closes. The swamp of dangers refers to conditions from which North Korea judges its situation may reach the dangerous situation. The “March of Hardship” in the mid-1990s was an example. Other examples include when the North feels the threats of unification by absorption or regime subversion from South Korea and the U.S. and the possibility of abandonment by China. Meanwhile, a window of opportunity refers to conditions from which Pyongyang judges its situation may attain the favorable situation. Among such conditions are securing the agreements of the Agreed Framework and the June 15 South-North Joint Declaration that are favorable to North Korea.
The objects of the North's crisis strategy are divided into targets and audiences. When deploying the strategy, Pyongyang assumes one target and two to three audiences with the intention of influencing all of them at once. Targets and audiences include not only the U.S., South Korea and China but its own military and people.
North Korea uses the crisis strategy with external and internal motivations, with the latter secondary to the former. The external motivation is opening a window of opportunity by acquiring the acknowledgement of its government, economic aid and the status of a nuclear power from the international community, especially the U.S and South Korea. By achieving the goals, North Korea wished to avoid falling into the swamp of dangers. North Korea hoped that the crisis strategy would also motivate and encourage the North Korean people to actively join the efforts towards building a “strong and prosperous nation.” However, the internal motivations are only secondary.
In 2002, the Bush administration labeled North Korea as an ‘axis of evil,’ forcing it into a swamp of dangers. The delayed implementation of the Agreed Framework drove Pyongyang to declare itself a nuclear power in February 2005. North Korea’s declaration was directed at the US government and the primary objective was to restore the Agreed Framework. North Korea also had to show off to its people that the ‘military-first’ policy had been successful in the past decade.
The nuclear crisis came to a close with the September 19 Joint Statement in 2005. However, the U.S. imposed sanctions on North Korea over the funds at Banco Delta Asia (BDA) as little progress was made on the 2005 joint statement and China joined the sanctions. This led to the creation of another swamp of dangers for North Korea. Against this backdrop, North Korea conducted a nuclear test in October 2006 to attain a nuclear power status and secure what was agreed in the September 15 joint statement. The U.S. was the main target of the nuclear test and the North Korean people and China were the audiences.
As Kim Jong-il’s health deteriorated in August 2008, North Korea’s power succession emerged as an urgent issue and the Korean peninsula entered a new phase. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak administration’s North Korea policy, emphasizing strict application of its principles and China’s cooperative attitudes toward the U.S. government formed a swamp of dangers for North Korea. In addition, there was only little progress on the February 13 and October 3 Agreements during the end of the Bush administration due to the verification issues. In 2009, the Obama administration took office and Pyongyang expected to have direct and comprehensive negotiations. The new US administration, however, was reluctant to have dialogue with Pyongyang because of its provocative actions. As a result, North Korea conducted a second nuclear test. The nuclear test was aimed at securing the nuclear power status and receiving economic assistance from the U.S., South Korea and China externally and motivating the North Korean people to build a “strong and prosperous nation” internally.
However, the nuclear test backfired and Pyongyang faced greater sanctions and pressure from the international community and South Korea. The North employed appeasement tactics to induce assistance from the South and reopen the Mt. Geumgang tourism in late 2010, but it failed to turn around the Lee administration’s North Korea policy. Also, the Obama administration continued its strategic patience strategy towards the North. In response, Pyongyang launched a series of provocations including the disclosure of its uranium enrichment facilities, and bombarded the South’s Yeonpyeong Island in 2010. Such military actions were taken to open a window of opportunity and to soften the South Korean government’s North Korea policy, thereby securing the agreements of the June 15 declaration and the October 4 Declaration that are favorable to North Korea and to bring the U.S. to the negotiating table. Furthermore, North Korea attempted to avoid China’s political intervention and mobilize the North Korean people to support and promote Kim Jong-un’s ‘military-first’ policy.