{"id":590498,"date":"2023-09-09T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-09T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/the-rationality-of-north-korea\/"},"modified":"2023-09-09T20:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-09-09T17:00:00","slug":"the-rationality-of-north-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-rationality-of-north-korea\/","title":{"rendered":"#The rationality of North Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/GettyImages-1650946289.jpg?w=900\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Kim Jong Un\u2019s Workers\u2019 Party of Korea is celebrating today the 75th anniversary of the founding of what is formally known as the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea, which we know as North Korea. September 9th is the Day of the Foundation of the Republic, one of the country\u2019s most important national holidays. Doubtless there will be many celebrations in and beyond the capital of Pyongyang. Previous jubilee celebrations included military parades on Kim Il Sung Square and artistic performances throughout the country.<\/p>\n<p>But for many outsiders, a question will naturally arise: What, exactly, is there to celebrate? The country seems bent on self-destruction, pursuing irrational internal and external policies. The nation\u2019s <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2010\/mar\/18\/north-korean-executed-currency-reform\">currency reform<\/a> in 2009 attempted to curb growing private markets by introducing a new North Korean won and limiting the exchange amount. The result was to wipe out citizens\u2019 savings, breeding massive resentment. There\u2019s also tight informational control \u2014 in this globalized age, citizens caught in possession of South Korean cultural products (such as the wildly popular K-drama TV shows) face severe punishment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>In terms of its foreign and defense policies, there is North Korea\u2019s seemingly irrational pursuit of nuclear weapons and the ballistic missiles to deliver them as far away as the United States \u2014 policies that run counter to well-established global norms and that have resulted in significant international sanctions being imposed on the country.<\/p>\n<p>Given the dire economic straits the country finds itself in, this would seem to be the height of irrationality. Wouldn\u2019t it be far more rational to devote many of the resources that currently flow to the military, and the nuclear and missile programs in particular, to feeding the North Korean people and otherwise elevating their standard of living? Put slightly differently, wouldn\u2019t it ultimately be far more rational to take the road China took in the 1990s and simply join the international community, accepting its political, economic and security norms? After all, it worked for communist China, transforming it from an economic wreck into one of the most affluent nations on the planet. And look how prosperous South Korea has grown since adopting such an <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>roach in the 1980s.<\/p>\n<p>And all that is true, as far as it goes.<\/p>\n<p>But there <em>is<\/em> a kind of rationality at play in the collective mind of North Korea\u2019s leadership \u2014 and we in the West would do well to understand it.<\/p>\n<p>To be rational, of course, is to know what one\u2019s goal is, and to know and implement the steps that are conducive to attaining the goal. North Korea is rational in this sense. Its state ideology, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/general-news-d63d00ce9de042dc88b9df2c40be53ee\">Juche<\/a>, is usually translated as \u201cself-reliance,\u201d and North Korea acts in a manner that it thinks will secure that self-reliance.<\/p>\n<p>Self-reliance is important to the North Korean regime because of the way it understands Korean history: Korea would not have been subject to the historical tributary arrangement with China, Japanese colonialism, or U.S. imperialism if it were self-reliant enough to stand up to more powerful foreign powers. The 20th century brought humiliation and suffering to the peninsula, and Juche was born out of the people\u2019s desire to fight class and national subjugation. It\u2019s important to North Koreans that they\u2019re strong enough \u2014 both militarily and culturally \u2014 to withstand foreign pressure.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>In a way, they\u2019re after freedom, too. But it\u2019s collective freedom that matters to them. The United States was founded on individuals\u2019 right to live without external limitations. North Korea was founded on a nation\u2019s, or a people\u2019s, right to live without external limitations.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The rationale for much of what the North Korean regime does, then, is to break the cycle of political and <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">social<\/a> oppression at the collective level. Its nuclear developments, sensitivity to U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises, and even the development of its own \u201cKorean-style socialism\u201d aim to maintain national sovereignty and avoid repeating history. The pursuit of collective freedom also explains why individual freedom is deprioritized.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Refusing to see the logic behind North Korean actions blinds America and others to how it might be contributing to North Korea\u2019s (seemingly) aggressive responses. For example, joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises do little to alleviate the regime\u2019s worry that it continues to face imperialistic threats. As long as North Korea sees South Korea to be \u201cunder U.S. control,\u201d South Korea\u2019s potential acquisition of nuclear weapons risks triggering an arms race, or worse.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>Policymakers should be sensitive to North Korea\u2019s goals and understand how American decisions can be understood in light of their worldview.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s been more military action on the peninsula than usual over the past few months. North Korea\u2019s response to U.S.-South Korea joint exercises might seem dramatic, but we should still consider it rational.<\/p>\n<p><em>Andrew Latham is a professor of international relations at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minn., a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Peace and Diplomacy, and a non-resident fellow at Defense Priorities in Washington, D.C. Follow him <\/em><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/aalatham?lang=en\"><em>@aalatham<\/em><\/a><em>. Hannah H. Kim is an assistant professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona and an associate editor for the\u00a0\u201cStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.\u201d Follow her <\/em><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/thisishannahkim\"><em>@thisishannahkim<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/opinion\/international\/4194263-the-rationality-of-north-korea\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kim Jong Un\u2019s Workers\u2019 Party of Korea is celebrating today the 75th anniversary of the founding of what is formally known as the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea, which we know as North Korea. September 9th is the Day of the Foundation of the Republic, one of the country\u2019s most important national holidays. Doubtless there&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":590499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/GettyImages-1650946289.jpg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[134343,145679,134447,5378,124783,121178,145680,72676,27926,145681,72348,72420],"class_list":["post-590498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-campaign","tag-dprk","tag-energy-and-environment","tag-history","tag-international","tag-international-relations","tag-juche","tag-kim-jong-un","tag-north-korea","tag-north-korea-south-korea-relations","tag-nuclear-weapons","tag-south-korea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}