North Korea’s Foreign Policy

Since Kim Jong-un’s assumption of power in December 2011, North Korea has undergone expanded nuclear development, political isolation, and economic stagnation. Kim’s early prioritization of the byungjin policy, simultaneous economic and military or nuclear development, highlighted his goal of transforming North Korea’s domestic economic circumstances and strengthening its position in the world as a nuclear state. The central dilemma shaping Kim Jong-un’s foreign policy throughout his first decade in power revolves around ensuring North Korea’s prosperity and security while sustaining the political isolation and control necessary for regime survival. In order to evaluate North Korea’s foreign policy under Kim, this volume will examine the impact of domestic factors that have influenced the formation and implementation of Kim’s foreign policy, Kim’s distinctive use of summitry and effectiveness of such meetings as an instrument by which to attain foreign policy goals, and the impact of international responses to North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear capabilities on North Korea’s foreign policy.

Foreign policy · Political science · Politics · Economic Sanctions and International Relations · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Korean Peninsula Historical and Political Studies · Law

• North Korea's Nuclear Policy

  Open Access•Rajaram Panda•The Journal of Comparative Asian…•2011

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• Why can’t the drama stop? US–China rivalry and security triangulation on the Korean peninsula

  Xiangfeng Yang•Contemporary Politics•2023

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