Foreign Policy and Terrorism in North Korea

2019 Words5 Pages

Introduction

North Korea appears on the international stage as a country existing beyond the world we all know. It isolates its citizens from the rest of international community and does not obey any rules determined by international law, but requires respect and recognition. Moreover, North Korea is one of the countries that remains aggressive towards its neighbors and applies various terrorist techniques, i.e. illegal contraband, political terror and mass abductions of other countries’ citizens in its foreign policy. The reasons for which the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) behaves so unpredictably and irrationally are diversified. First of all, the DPRK as a country is managed very irrationally – regimes of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il are based on centrally planned economy which main aim is to sustain a 1-million army (by the population of North Korea of c. 23 millions). Additionally, utopian and unreasonable idea of self-reliance (kor. juche) causes the DPRK to be in a permanent state of economic ruin. Thus, North Korea still remains as a country that has never undergone an “economic miracle” and is highly dependent on help from abroad since the 1990s of 20th century. Lack of technological development and frozen system of Kims’ succession does not help to improve the country’s situation. Unfortunately, although North Korean authorities are aware of the DPRK’s situation, they would never admit their guilt due to their desire to keep the power, especially as Kim Jong-il is much less impressive leader than Kim Il-sung.

Why terrorism?

North Korean terrorism has its roots among others in the succession of power’s system. In the mid-1970s young Kim Jong-il was preparing to take over the leadership in the Worker’s...

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