North Korean Foreign Relations in the Post-Cold War Era

North Korean Foreign Relations in the Post-Cold War Era
Author :
Publisher :
Total Pages : 318
Release :
ISBN-10 : UOM:39015043774853
ISBN-13 :
Rating : 4/5 (53 Downloads)

Synopsis North Korean Foreign Relations in the Post-Cold War Era by : Samuel S. Kim

This book examines the changing face of North Korea's foreign policy and how its leaders deal with the rest of the world, in the light of its altering political and economic conditions.

Kim Il Sung in the Khrushchev Era

Kim Il Sung in the Khrushchev Era
Author :
Publisher : Stanford University Press
Total Pages : 388
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0804753229
ISBN-13 : 9780804753227
Rating : 4/5 (29 Downloads)

Synopsis Kim Il Sung in the Khrushchev Era by : Balázs Szalontai

Concentrating on the years 1953-64, this history describes how North Korea became more despotic even as other Communist countries underwent de-Stalinization. The author’s principal new source is the Hungarian diplomatic archives, which contain extensive reporting on Kim Il Sung and North Korea, thoroughly informed by research on the period in the Soviet and Eastern European archives and by recently published scholarship. Much of the story surrounds Kim Il Sung: his Korean nationalism and eagerness for Korean autarky; his efforts to balance the need for foreign aid and his hope for an independent foreign policy; and what seems to be his good sense of timing in doing in internal rivals without attracting Soviet retaliation. Through a series of comparisons not only with the USSR but also with Albania, Romania, Yugoslavia, China, and Vietnam, the author highlights unique features of North Korean communism during the period. Szalontai covers ongoing effects of Japanese colonization, the experiences of diverse Korean factions during World War II, and the weakness of the Communist Party in South Korea.

Fearing the Worst

Fearing the Worst
Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Total Pages : 518
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780231549943
ISBN-13 : 0231549946
Rating : 4/5 (43 Downloads)

Synopsis Fearing the Worst by : Samuel F. Wells Jr.

After World War II, the escalating tensions of the Cold War shaped the international system. Fearing the Worst explains how the Korean War fundamentally changed postwar competition between the United States and the Soviet Union into a militarized confrontation that would last decades. Samuel F. Wells Jr. examines how military and political events interacted to escalate the conflict. Decisions made by the Truman administration in the first six months of the Korean War drove both superpowers to intensify their defense buildup. American leaders feared the worst-case scenario—that Stalin was prepared to start World War III—and raced to build up strategic arms, resulting in a struggle they did not seek out or intend. Their decisions stemmed from incomplete interpretations of Soviet and Chinese goals, especially the belief that China was a Kremlin puppet. Yet Stalin, Mao, and Kim Il-sung all had their own agendas, about which the United States lacked reliable intelligence. Drawing on newly available documents and memoirs—including previously restricted archives in Russia, China, and North Korea—Wells analyzes the key decision points that changed the course of the war. He also provides vivid profiles of the central actors as well as important but lesser known figures. Bringing together studies of military policy and diplomacy with the roles of technology, intelligence, and domestic politics in each of the principal nations, Fearing the Worst offers a new account of the Korean War and its lasting legacy.

Guns, Guerillas, and the Great Leader

Guns, Guerillas, and the Great Leader
Author :
Publisher : Stanford University Press
Total Pages : 308
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781503627642
ISBN-13 : 1503627640
Rating : 4/5 (42 Downloads)

Synopsis Guns, Guerillas, and the Great Leader by : Benjamin R. Young

Far from always having been an isolated nation and a pariah state in the international community, North Korea exercised significant influence among Third World nations during the Cold War era. With one foot in the socialist Second World and the other in the anticolonial Third World, North Korea occupied a unique position as both a postcolonial nation and a Soviet client state, and sent advisors to assist African liberation movements, trained anti-imperialist guerilla fighters, and completed building projects in developing countries. State-run media coverage of events in the Third World shaped the worldview of many North Koreans and helped them imagine a unified anti-imperialist front that stretched from the boulevards of Pyongyang to the streets of the Gaza Strip and the beaches of Cuba. This book tells the story of North Korea's transformation in the Third World from model developmental state to reckless terrorist nation, and how Pyongyang's actions, both in the Third World and on the Korean peninsula, ultimately backfired against the Kim family regime's foreign policy goals. Based on multinational and multi-archival research, this book examines the intersection of North Korea's domestic and foreign policies and the ways in which North Korea's developmental model appealed to the decolonizing world.

North Korean Foreign Relations in the Post-Cold War World

North Korean Foreign Relations in the Post-Cold War World
Author :
Publisher : Strategic Studies Institute
Total Pages : 128
Release :
ISBN-10 : IND:30000115583951
ISBN-13 :
Rating : 4/5 (51 Downloads)

Synopsis North Korean Foreign Relations in the Post-Cold War World by : Samuel S. Kim

The author examines North Korea's foreign relations with China, Russia, Japan, the United States, and South Korea during the post-Cold War era. North Korea's extended and heavy reliance on foreign aid and assistance -both military and economic-in the first 4 decades came from China, the Soviet Union, and communist bloc states; in the past 2 decades, this aid has come from countries including China, South Korea, and the United States. He argues that central to understanding North Korea's international behavior in the 21st century is the extent to which the policies of the United States have shaped that behavior. Although some readers may not agree with all of Dr. Kim's interpretations and assessments, they nevertheless will find his analysis simulating and extremely informative.

A Misunderstood Friendship

A Misunderstood Friendship
Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Total Pages : 236
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780231553674
ISBN-13 : 0231553676
Rating : 4/5 (74 Downloads)

Synopsis A Misunderstood Friendship by : Zhihua Shen

Today, the People’s Republic of China is North Korea’s only ally on the world stage, a tightly knit relationship that goes back decades. Both countries portray their partnership as one of “brotherly affection” based on shared political ideals—an alliance “as tight as lips to teeth”—even though relations have deteriorated in recent years due to China’s ascendance and North Korea’s intransigence. In A Misunderstood Friendship, leading diplomatic historians Zhihua Shen and Yafeng Xia draw on previously untapped primary source materials revealing tensions and rivalries to offer a unique account of the China–North Korea relationship. They unravel the twists and turns in high-level diplomacy between China and North Korea from the late 1940s to the death of Mao Zedong in 1976. Through unprecedented access to Chinese government documents, Soviet and Eastern European archives, and in-depth interviews with former Chinese diplomats and North Korean defectors, Shen and Xia reveal that the tensions that currently plague the alliance between the two countries have been present from the very beginning of the relationship. They significantly revise existing narratives of the Korean War, China’s postwar aid to North Korea, Kim Il-sung’s ideological and strategic thinking, North Korea’s relations with the Soviet Union, and the importance of the Sino-U.S. rapprochement, among other issues. A Misunderstood Friendship adds new depth to our understanding of one of the most secretive and significant relationships of the Cold War, with increasing relevance to international affairs today.

On the Brink

On the Brink
Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Total Pages : 251
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781108473484
ISBN-13 : 1108473482
Rating : 4/5 (84 Downloads)

Synopsis On the Brink by : Van Jackson

Former Pentagon insider Van Jackson explores how Trump and Kim reached - and avoided - the precipice of nuclear war.

Negotiating on the Edge

Negotiating on the Edge
Author :
Publisher : US Institute of Peace Press
Total Pages : 262
Release :
ISBN-10 : 1878379941
ISBN-13 : 9781878379948
Rating : 4/5 (41 Downloads)

Synopsis Negotiating on the Edge by : Scott Snyder

The ordeal of negotiating with North Koreans during the Cold War has left the impression of a crazy and bizarre diplomacy, of negotiators who insult and provoke their Western counterparts while fabricating crises and fomenting discord. As "Negotiating on the Edge" reveals, however, there is not only a method to this madness but also an ongoing shift toward a less provocative negotiating style.Drawing on interviews with an eminent cast of U.S. officials and marshalling extensive research on North Korea past and present, Scott Snyder traces the historical and cultural roots of North Korea's negotiating behavior and exposes the full range of tactics in its diplomatic arsenal. He explains why North Koreans behave as they do, and he argues that there is, in fact, an internal logic to what often seems to be outrageous conduct.Finally, Snyder explores how economic desperation and the end of the Cold War have forced North Korea to modify its negotiating style and objectives. Focusing on the U.S. negotiating experience with North Korea in the 1990s, Snyder also deals comparatively with recent South Korean and multilateral attempts to engage Pyongyang."

North Korea and Northeast Asia

North Korea and Northeast Asia
Author :
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Total Pages : 294
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781461639619
ISBN-13 : 1461639611
Rating : 4/5 (19 Downloads)

Synopsis North Korea and Northeast Asia by : Samuel S. Kim

A country of stark contradictions and puzzles, North Korea exhibits uncanny resilience in the face of external shocks and internal woes, raising important questions of theoretical and real-world significance. What has made it possible for North Korea to defy the classical realist axiom, 'The strong do what they have the power to do and the weak accept what they have to accept'? What is the nature of the North Korean threat in post-Cold War Northeast Asia? What kind of bargaining leverage does Pyongyang exercise in system-maintaining survival strategies? What are North Korea's prospects for sustaining such survival strategies in the uncertain years ahead? This volume offers a major reappraisal of the changing relationship between North Korea and its neighboring powers in the post-Cold War era in both theoretical and practical terms. The contributors examine the complex interplay of global, regional, and national forces that have influenced and shaped the changing patterns of conflict and cooperation in North Korea's relationships with China, Russia, and Japan and with the United States. Within the context of Northeast Asian geopolitics, the book tracks, explains, and assesses North Korea's survival strategies in both the security and economic domains, as well as the prospects of these strategies in the coming years.

Maritime Disputes in Northeast Asia

Maritime Disputes in Northeast Asia
Author :
Publisher : BRILL
Total Pages : 267
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9789004344228
ISBN-13 : 9004344225
Rating : 4/5 (28 Downloads)

Synopsis Maritime Disputes in Northeast Asia by : Suk Kyoon Kim

In Maritime Disputes in Northeast Asia: Regional Challenges and Cooperation, Suk Kyoon Kim provides an important multidisciplinary perspective on maritime disputes in one of the most dynamic areas of the world: Northeast Asia, a region of divergent political and economic systems where the legacy of a tumultuous past continues to overshadow current events. The text highlights maritime issues on the Korean Peninsula and extends an analytical eye to neighboring China, Japan and Russia. Kim explores in-depth the factors and issues at stake with complex maritime disputes, focusing on maritime boundary delimitation, territory, energy resources, fishery, marine pollution, and security and safety. This volume provides a timely international law perspective informed by an intricate historical, political, and socio-economic context, while offering a vision for future cooperation.