North Korea-US relations under Kim Jong Il

Books about North Korea and the United States tend to be full of righteous indignation that such a small and insignificant country should defy the world's only superpower and that it should apparently follow what its leaders see as its own interests rather than those of the wider—and generally undefined—‘international community’. Recent examples of this genre include Surrender is not an option (Threshold Publications, 2007), the memoirs of John Bolton, former ambassador to the United Nations, and The impossible state by Victor Cha (Bodley Head, 2012), the former National Security Council Director for Asian Affairs. Others are more measured, yet see North Korea as irrational and an irritant. Ramon Pacheco Pardo's new book is therefore to be welcomed. It wins on many counts. It is clear, informed, succinct and, above all, dispassionate. In his estimation, North Korea's behaviour in its approach to the United States is neither outrageous nor a crime crying to heaven for action. It is how small states behave when faced with larger ones. There is no doubt that North Korea is a weak power. It may have a small nuclear arsenal and a large army. Both are ineffective compared to the might that surrounds it. China, Russia and the United States are all nuclear powers. Japan and South Korea are economic powerhouses, with state of the art military forces. There is no doubt that North Korea could wound, but only at great risk to its own survival. For North Korea, links with neighbours are problematic. It is the distant yet close United States that might provide the balance that would enable North Korea to survive

China · Political science · Power (physics · State (computer science · Superpower · Surrender · History · Korean Peninsula Historical and Political Studies · Law