Pacific Affairs: An International Review of Asia and the Pacific

Volume 73, No. 4

 

North Korea's Defensive Power and U.S.-North Korea Relations
By Kyung-Ae Park

 

Abstract

This article examines nuclear and missile tensions in U.S.-North Korea relations and analyzes North Korea's defensive power, i.e., its ability to resist U.S. influence. Contending that the missile and nuclear tensions are intertwined with North Korea's defensive power, it probes various sources of North Korea's defensive capability. Such domestic factors as threats to its survival, Juche ideology, rivalry with South Korea, consolidation of the new regime, and being small are examined as factors that help Pyongyang increase its capacity to withstand pressure from Washington and compensate for the asymmetry of power between the two systems. Pointing to a paradoxical phenomenon of the "power of the weak," the article argues that the traditional power approach falls short in accounting for North Korea's role and influence in the nuclear and missile crises with the U.S. Although the U.S. is far more powerful than North Korea, America's superior military or economic power does not guarantee North Korea's compliance with U.S. interests when North Korea is determined to exercise its defensive power.