The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or commonly called North Korea, is in an interesting situation in the present moment. The state that has traditionally flown under the radar of major powers is now conducting talks with them. North Korea has been able to do this because they have created a nuclear weapons program that allows them to have the capability to strike anywhere in the world.
They received consequences for advancing their program like the United Nations imposing sanctions, but this did not deter them from completing their nuclear weapons program. After the completion of their nuclear weapons program they began making attempts to work toward removing the sanctions that the major powers that were opposing their actions, such as the United States, South Korea, Japan, and China, pushed for. This produces questions to those watching the situation unfold particularly why? What is North Korea doing? These answers can be found when you look closer to the state’s goals and plans.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has pushed itself into the attention of the world in order to pursue its goal of interacting with other states while still maintaining their current regime. North Korea’s current relationship with South Korea, the United States, China, and Japan are all very different but have created the situation presently seen. North Korea began to work with South Korea after Kim Jong Un stated in his New Year’s Address that he was open to communicating to with the southern state to ease the tensions of the peninsula. Shortly after this the two states started corresponding and the result was the two Korean states marching under a unified flag at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
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The two states continued to correspond meeting in April 2018 and a few other times throughout the year. During these meetings the two countries laid out that they wanted to work towards submitting a joint bid for the 2032 Olympics, have interconnecting railroads, and stop doing military drills toward one another. The United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea have made strides as well to lessen the tensions of the two countries. The relationship has not thawed as much as the one between the two Korean countries, but it is far better than it was. The two countries exchanged heated comments involving nuclear weapons at the beginning of 2018 but have since moved away from this and met multiple times. The United States president and Kim Jong Un met in June 2018 in Singapore for a summit.
The other meeting involved the United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, going to North Korea. All of these talks centered around North Korea denuclearizing and North Korea stressing that they want the guarantee of their regime’s security. The North Korean relationship to China is very different than the other countries. North Korea has depended on China as a major trading partner and ally since the state’s creation. However, after the United Nation imposed sanctions imposed on North Korea that relationship has changed. The two states have met three times this year, and the Chinese have decide to ease the sanctions on the state since it has been positive about participating in talks about denuclearizing.
The relationship with Japan is by far the worst and has no improvement as the Korean state still hold resentment over Japanese imperialism. They have switch from making the United States public enemy number 1 to making Japan fulfill that role. All of these relationships have created the current situation. The current situation that North Korea is in involves them destroying one of their major nuclear testing site, Punggye-ri, and creating a warm relationship with South Korea. The state is still working out details with the other countries about the expectations of their denuclearization and what they will receive in return. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has found themselves here for their pursuit of their goals to interact with other states while preserving their current regime.
The rational model can be applied to them in this sense as they were on the path of pursuing a nuclear weapons plan then economic developments to maximize their goals. They went with the plan that not only would give them security to be able to continue their regime without outside intervention while getting the attention of multiple other countries. They began to interact with countries who previously ignored them. their goals are closer to being reached because of the way they went about their plans. North Korea has stayed on a very intelligent plan of action. Their plan of action is evidently to negotiate their way to maintaining some type of nuclear weapon capability while removing the sanctions imposed by the United Nations and improving their relations with countries that can benefit them economically.
The state’s pursuit of a warm relationship with South Korea will give them ample opportunity to expand their economy with the new railroads being built and the new possible trading partner. The North Koreans have continuously pushed for their denuclearization to come in small steps with responding steps from the United States. They have made small compromises to actually denuclearizing. They have more nuclear testing sites than Punggye-ri. The largest concession that they were seriously considering was to cease production of fissile material that could be used in weapons. They have continued to resist putting deadlines on their denuclearization and have insinuated that the United States was becoming too aggressive with their push for the state to become denuclearized. The state is using the other countries to their advantage as well by playing the United States and China off each other.
Both states are worried of the relationship that the Democratic Republic People’s of Korea have with the other. Their current plan is not without possible consequence. The major expected consequence is that the sanctions outlined by the United Nations will continue to be in effect until the eventual agreement between North Korea and the United States on the denuclearization. China will have to upkeep the sanctions if the state does not still appear willing to actually work toward the end solution, which will devastate the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s economy and possibility of developments. Further, if these sanctions are upheld South Korea will have to comply with them as well which would stall the two states plans of joint anything. The South Koreans will be pulled to side with United States instead of trying to continue unthawing their relationship.
The United States will likely press harder on the country to comply with the denuclearization when they feel North Korea pulling away from it. Japan will continue to back the United States and its choices on dealing with North Korea. The other major consequence is that the country will be forced to denuclearize or become an outcast again. While the choice of denuclearizing has the potential to benefit them greatly there is risk of their regime being destroyed by foreign intervention that they believe nuclear weapons can stop. Becoming an outcast again will result in the country being squeezed tightly by the sanctions that are imposed resulting in a weaker state.
North Korea’s approach in their current situation is the best plan of action until further opportunity arises. The unprecedented and historic meeting between the United States and North Korea gave the latter room to move at the very least laterally. Instead of getting pinched by the harsh sanctions and demands of the west, China has now come back in their corner to protect their economic interests and with potential to invest in their neighbor. They did not want to lose North Korea as an ally to the United States. Pitting the two against each other was a power move that has given Kim much more room and time to operate and keep the status quo of their nuclear program going forward. Kim is motivated to expand North Korea’s economy with his nuclear program to finally be independent from other countries and become more stable for its citizens.
Although relations between North and South Korea has been trending upward in recent news, the country of South Korea is loyal to the United States and under their influence. The warming ties make it easier for the state to gain trust from the United States and start economic developments without major commitments that they feel puts North Korea’s security in jeopardy. The United States has to have the support of China, South Korea, and Japan in order to put firm pressure on the state. With the way Kim has played both China and the United States it is more difficult to get China to become firm again. The difficulty the United States might face is emphasized as well by South Korea’s possible reluctance to revert back to hostilities with their northern neighbor.
Thus, North Korea is working to fulfill their goals of wanting definite security and interactions with other states through their current plan of action. The state has come very far in achieving their goals but a lot of work is still ahead of them. Their current plan is their best option to bring them to their specific goals at the present moment. While the other countries could take actions that interrupt their progress their plan has allowed them sufficient room to readjust to what they throw their way. Thus, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea are in a good position in their current situation to be able to pursue their goals while working with the others.
