North Korea Under Kim Chong-il

Book excerpt: One of the most vexing foreign policy problems facing the international community today is the case of North Korea. Since the late 1980s, successive leaders of the five Northeast Asian powers have confronted the challenge to little effect. Despite a variety of foreign policy strategies ranging from threats of military force to engagement to benign neglect to engagement within the context of the Six Party Talks, neither the United States, nor South Korea, nor China has succeeded in removing the problems North Korea poses for the international community. As the United States and its allies have tried to deal with these challenges, they have been met with a country whose security and foreign policies appear erratic and unpredictable. North Korea's lack of susceptibility to diplomatic pressure and willingness to engage in provocative actions as part of a brinksmanship strategy makes it a seemingly intractable problem. Policy makers face many questions with no apparent answers. This book is designed to provide the reader with an understanding of the political process and leadership environment in North Korea.