North Korea drama - Kim Regime.docx

KPB3123
NEGOTIATIONS AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

ASSIGNMENT 3

NAME : NUR HAFIZA BINTI ABU ASSAN
MATRIC. NO: KLB1520049

LECTURER: MAJOR MOHD RIDZUAN BIN HJ MOHD SHARIFF

Today, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) commonly known as North Korea where the nation's capital, Pyongyang, has almost a similar geographical size with South Korea but with smaller size of population. North Korea only has 25 million people as twice smaller than South Korea of 49 million populations. However, the Korean peninsula was once one country and then ruled by Japanese regime but then divided by two countries, the north and South after Korea victimized by the Cold War. Worsen the situation, the North Side begun a Korean War, which would last for three years 1950 to 1953 that relatively short but exceptionally bloody. The war was ended up with ceasefire that maintained the 38th parallel boundary or today called as 'demilitiarized zone'. Then, these two separate nations started to have their own kind of governance along the boundaries of 38th parallel. So, even North and South make up from the same origin of people, language and culture but now have they have different type of government and development as well as culture difference. Even yet, the Korean was technically still fighting among each other after the long history conflict.
Korea Division
Moreover, the ruler's contradict and opposing ideologies also created and worsen the conflict that separate the nation. Even after the cold war, where the Americans and the Soviets invaded and ruled Korea Peninsula after defeated Japan that divided the Korean peninsula in half along the 38th parallel. The Russians occupied the area north of the line and the United States occupied the area to its south. In the south, the anti-communist dictator Syngman Rhee (1875-1965) enjoyed the reluctant support of the American government; in the north, the communist dictator Kim Il Sung (1912-1994) enjoyed the slightly more enthusiastic support of the Soviets. (staff, 2009). So eventually, the North Korea being ruled by the communist party while the South Korea takes place in the framework of a presidential representative democratic republic.
North Korea Tyranny
On that framework of government and different ruler's ideologies between north and south Korea, the communist style in North Korea governance started to emerge for a long time until today. The current government of North Korea controlled by the authoritarian ruler specifically name Chief of State Kim Jong-un and Premier Pak Pong-ju. Kim Jong Un is coming generation from third generation of Kim il Sung called again as North Korea Kim regime where their system remains as tyrannical as ever. The Kim tyranny in North Korea began as an offshoot of the communist harsh oppressive dictatorship. Millions of North Koreans that opposed Kim tyranny have been starved to death and sent to concentration camps to die
Hence, what is the real reason that DPRK being controlled by tyranny?
Communism
Juche ideology
Military leadership

Communism
First, understand more on how DPRK tyranny came over North Korea. It was relatively come from the authoritarian ruled of communism in the country where led by ardent communist, Kim il Sung. The communist style controlled by Marxist–Leninist parties to rule under a single-party system could maintained Kim il Sung as a first leader in North Korea. He typically embodied the way of communist institution maximized power like Soviet's and China. However, he has shifted away from the tradition of Marx and Lenin unlike the Soviet's Union and China when he failed to invaded the South Korea in Korean War.
The tyranny originator Kim Il Sung engage in military strength and military ties with China to invaded South Korea in 1950 because Kim Sought to reunify all of Korea under his own Communist leadership. In 1949 and early 1950, it seemed that he might have more support among the Korean populace than the equally autocratic leader of South Korea Syngman Rhee But Rhee shored up his support by mid-1950. (Shmoop University, Inc., 2008) Meaning that, Kim hope and expectation from his forces was not like as he hoped and expected that presumed him to accept the armistice of 1953 officially backed down from South Korea. However, 1950-32 Korean War ended with an armistice not a peace treaty that also made Kim Il Sung started to engage more in ballistic military programs and nuclear weapon power. Hence, supreme leader Kim Il Sung created the idea of "Juche" which is portrayed as a development of Marxism–Leninism where it become North Korea leading ideology.
Juche
Juche or "self-reliance" ideology are the guiding principles of the Kim tyranny and dictatorship. Juche is one of the reason DPRK could developed as tyranny because the leading ideology has comes down generation to generation where it can refer as a secular religion . It combines nationalism, collectivism and shards of Oriental and Western philosophies. Juche emphasizes the uniqueness of the Korean character and the need to unify the Koreas under the Juche banner and the Kim dynasty's rule.



Military leadership
Not only Juche ideology, Songgun or "military first" ideology started to adopted after Kim Il Sung Succession. DPRK tyranny proceeds to Kim Jong il that replaced his father after his death with more military strength power to stay in power. Why? Aside from his father sudden death, Kim Jong il facing threat in loyalty and trust between his own people because the means of succession had not been strictly set down, that threatened the stability of Kim. So, Kim Jong-il adopted an ideology known as Songgun — "Army First" — which transformed the country from a traditional communist government to a military dictatorship. This was a slight shift from the government's previous guiding policy, Kim Il-sung's juche, or self-reliance policy.
Kim regime was started to weaken and presumably a fall in loyalty after the shocks of the 1990's –the fall of Communism in Russia and Eastern Europe, the capitalist turn of China, the economic takeoff of South Korea and the economic downturn of North Korea. So, Kim Jong Un succeed Kim Jong il try to make up the situation and replace his father position. The dictators have to use two instruments to stay in power, repression, and loyalty. Though, he regains people loyalty towards the tyranny or hereditary dictatorship with more military power. Dictator Kim Jong Un assumed Pyongyang's military throne as if it maximized and monopolized political power and incentivize the population to be loyal to it. Military regime started to replaces a civilian dictatorship to not only regain the North Koreans loyalty but repression as well. In Korea, it was now declared that "only the army meets the criteria of loyalty, revolutionary spirit, and esprit de corps." (Koh (2005)) (Wintrobe, 2013) . So, the military come into power governing heavily on the basis of repression and the loyalty of the army serves to guarantee the loyalty of the people. The North Korea today has the largest per capita army in the world: 1/5 of its working age population and the largest proportion of GNP devoted to military purposes in the world (Noland (2007)).
Hence, over the years, North Korea's transform from typical communist leadership to a more repressive regime than ever before and military leadership remain bold. Mainly reason was because of the leader ideology and policy. Although, the economic downturn put North Korea into dependence over international aid to feed the people, North Korea continuously apply the military leadership ideology and prolong the conflict with South Korea.
Harm from South Korea and North Korea conflict
After the World War ii, the two superpower from the Cold war, the Americans and the Russians divided the Korea.The United States occupied the area south of line and the Soviet Union occupied the area to its north, with the boundary between their zones of control along the 38th parallel or "demilitarized zone" where led to different kind of governance even make up from same ethnicity Korean.
Then, almost 70 years on since the Korean War ended, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Republic of Korea (ROK) still have no official peace and are technically still at war. Recently, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is once again threatening war with South Korea, Japan and the U.S. (Bay, 2017). According to Sunjournal, North Korea declared as the world's most militarized nation, that form biggest threats to the South Korea. As being an closest neighbor and enemy of North Korea , the citizens remain was just separated by a 2.5-mile-wide demilitarized zone (DMZ), one of the most heavily armed borders in the world. North and South Korea are still technically at war with one another, and the armistice agreement that has governed the cease-fire for over fifty-five years was never intended as a long-term resolution of the Korean War.
Today,. However, if the perpetual conflict is still continuing on and if North Korea could detonate some nukes there could be collateral damage and trouble for a lot of people not only in the responsible country but also to the neighborhood countries like China and Japan. Fukushima is a good illustration, even with very little of the consequential damage being disclosed to the public. Moreover, among the two warring cousins, North and South Korea, they have almost similar nuclear weapon that will eventually harm everyone.
Hence, how the perpetual conflict in the Korean peninsular could be avoided or how would peace be in the first place between the North and South Korean? Do we need to strike a hard power, missile battle programme of North Korea with same coercion force as well? or does we need to turn continue negotiate peace "table talk" like how the South Korea new prime minister Moon Jae in, sought to do. Moon said he was prepared to travel the world to bring about a peaceful resolution to Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programme. (Mccurry, 2017)
Though, According to Muthiah Alagappa 24 April 2017 in TheEdge newspaper , there is growing apprehension that the US may take military action against North Korea. Even then, what purpose a military strike would seems unclear to solve Korea conflict. The preemptive military strike could further escalate tension on the Korean peninsula and increase the resolve of North Korea nuclear capability. Things could not solve the problem will even making it worse.
Fundamental change in Washington's North Korea Policy.
Since 2009, the U.S. has pursued a reactive policy toward North Korea called ''Strategic Patience,'' which maintains leveled pressure and resolute warnings with a door to renewed discussions partly open. This policy, however, has not slowed North Korea's nuclear program, as illustrated by Pyongyang's decision to restart its Yongbyon reactor, and as has been noted in the recently released U.N. Panel of Experts Report, North Korea continues to develop creative ways to evade U.N. Security Council prohibitions on trade and economic activities to boost its nuclear and missile programs. It has also done nothing to decrease the extent of human rights violations in North Korea. Clearly, U.S. policy has been ineffective.
Furthermore, the long history conflict between North and South Korea existed well before the development of nuclear weapon capability of North Korea. The conflict may have become local. Both Korea could resolve all the matter without involving the others power. So that they can seek to unify the Korean nation under one state and try to prescribing a root cause of North Korea attack not to show who got more power.
In addition, many other international policies have been made to solve North Korean abuses such as U.N. initiative about the Commission of Inquiry Report. The report was discussing how to urge the international community to reach a consensus to do more than just condemn by words on North Koreans.
Thus, first of all, the United Stated need to reconsider the policies that haven't worked, and reapply those that have for example that U.S "strategic patience" Policies in above. Instead of further isolating the North and imposing additional sanctions, US must try to avoid involving between South and North Korea matter. Plus, they could even encourage negotiations between North and South Korea and conclude a peace treaty to replace the prevailing armistice. Nevertheless, rapid action must be taken to address the underlying political problems between North and South Korea only then change can happen perhaps to topple the perpetual conflict.
Bibliography
Bay, A. (2017, April 17). N. Korea, Syria: Two hereditary dictatorships. SunJournal , 1.
Mccurry, J. (2017, may 10). the guardian. Retrieved may 12, 2017, from New South Korea leader Moon Jae-in willing to meet Kim in North: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/10/south-korea-new-president-moon-jae-in-meet-north-kim-jong-un
staff, h. (2009). korean war. Retrieved may 03, 2017, from History.com: http://www.history.com/topics/korean-war
Team, S. E. (2008, November 11). (S. E. team, Ed.) Retrieved May 12, 2017, from Shmoop University, Inc.: http://www.shmoop.com/korean-war/kim-il-sung.html
Wintrobe, R. (2013). The logic of the North Korean Dictatorship. (N. o. Scientist, Ed.) WORKING PAPERS SERIES , 1-18.