1. Fear and Insecurity: Addressing North Korean Threat Perceptions
- Author:
- Patrick M. Cronin
- Publication Date:
- 03-2021
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Hudson Institute
- Abstract:
- Diplomacy with North Korea must factor in an understanding of the Kim regime’s fears and insecurity. Pyongyang’s military actions and negotiating gambits jeopardize the United States, South Korea, and other nations’ vital interests and policy goals. Accordingly, the study of North Korean threat perceptions—how Kim Jong-un thinks about the utility of force and about threats to his regime—is essential for averting strategic surprise and buttressing diplomacy. National security strategy should be systematic, a deliberate calculation about national capabilities to achieve crucial objectives. It should be infused with an understanding of other actors, both friend and foe. A coherent national security strategy begins with clear and realistic written objectives. If aims are vague, it will be difficult to concentrate resources and mobilize others around a common cause. Similarly, if a nation’s goals are too ambitious and surpass the prospects or means for success, then the national security strategy represents wishful thinking and will likewise be difficult to carry out. What is needed is a serious attempt to grapple with the world as it exists and to harmonize a nation’s crucial ends with existing means.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, and National Security
- Political Geography:
- East Asia, Asia, South Korea, North Korea, and United States of America