Pacific Affairs: An International Review of Asia and the Pacific

Volume 73, No. 4

 

North Korean Perceptions of Self and Others: Implications for Policy Choices
By Han S. Park

 

Abstract

On the phenomenological premise that perceptions held by the perceiver constitute reality, the paper attempts to explain North Korea's policy choices and behavioural patterns by examining the perceptions held by the people in that unique and peculiar society. Viewed from this perspective, no behaviour or policy choice exhibited by the Pyongyang regime may be unexplainable. The institutional, historical, and leadership approaches that are most common in the study of North Korea have been unable to explain or predict the course of action taken by the government of the DPRK. Such mistaken approaches lead us to characterize North Korea as unpredictable, parasitic, and irrational. This article offers a cultural approach with emphasis on the norms, values, and beliefs that underlie the perceptions held by the people in that historical and political milieu. This approach leads one to conclude that the North Korean system is not only stable but also remarkably rational in pursuing national and regime interests in the international and inter-Korea arenas.