North Korea: A Dystopian State with Nuclear Ambitions

This article explores the political ideology, governance, human rights violations, military power, and nuclear research of North Korea. It discusses the recommendations to end the nuclear weapons program and human rights violations, including closing hard labor camps, ending the policy of three generations of offenders, providing support for energy infrastructure, destabilizing the government, and using a python strategy.

Running head: POLITICAL SCIENCE
Political Science
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction:
North Korea, also known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or
Korea DPR) is a nation situated on the northern Korean peninsula bordered by Russia and
China in northwest and west and South Korea in the south. DPRK was formed after World
War II that resulted in the Korean peninsula being divided along the 38th parallel with South
Korea below the border. DPRK is a socialist country having strong political alliances with
China and Russia and sharply contrasts to the South Korean governance (Buzo, 2018). The
country is led by the Worker’s Party of Korea headed by the head of the royal family (also
called the Kim Jong dynasty), Kim Jong Un, the decedent (grandson) of the founding leader
Kim il Sung. Many newspapers and news media have called DPRK to be a ‘Stalinist’ country
and even by the nickname ‘the hermit kingdom’ referring to the isolation of the country from
the rest of the world as well as the media blackout imposed by the government (Lankov,
2014; Gauthier, 2016). The country aspires to become a nuclear power and have been
involved in the development of nuclear weapons. This has sparked debates across the world
on whether North Korea can be entrusted with the development of such dangerous weapons
which can jeopardize the security of other nations (Pollack, 2017).
Background of the issue:
Political Ideology
The country follows the ideology of ‘jouche’ which implies that all the production
from the country is owned by the state through collective farms and enterprises run by the
state. The country also uses strong smear campaign strategies and propaganda tools to control
and influence public opinion and have very strict laws against ‘political crimes’ (Myers,
2015). The country has a very strong ideological influence on the people, and any deviations
from the prescribed behavior can lead to severe penalties and punishment. The apparatus for

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controlling and monitoring people is also very extensive, using mass surveillance and
network of government informants that reports the smallest of rule breaks to the authorities
(Chartrand et al., 2017).
State Governance:
The totalitarian governance of the country is very unique from any other nation in the
world (maybe with the only exception of Eritrea in northeast Africa) and can be compared to
the dystopian novel by George Orwell ‘1984’ (Vogt, 2015). The country has near complete
control over its people and routinely executes its political prisoners and defectors. The
women are also routinely subjected to sexual violence in the labor camps called gulags and
people are forced to live in conditions of severe deprivations both inside and outside the
camps. Thousands lose their lives every year trying to defect from North Korea and seek
asylum in South Korea and the families of the defectors are often imprisoned in the labor
camps for life. Even smallest of acts such as speaking against the government, watching
South Korean television or even having the ‘wrong’ type of haircut can attract the strictest of
punishments (Thomson, 2017; Chartrand et al., 2017).
Human Rights Violations:
DPRK have been accused of serious Human Rights violations against its own people
by several international organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch
and United Nations as well as from the defectors from the country (Lee & English, 2016). It
has been reported that DPRK routinely detains and tortures its citizens for smallest of
violations of its ideological policies, impose severe restrictions in the movement of the
people, deporting people to harsh labor camp, often without any trial along with the entire
family without any possibility of being released (Cohen, 2015; Vogt, 2015). The country also
suffered 3 famines since 1950 (1950, 2000 and 2016) that caused deaths of almost 60 million

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people as the government failed to protect its people as well as distribute the international
aids to prevent the famine (Schwekendiek, 2018). The nation’s infrastructure is ailing as the
country is unable to keep up with the nation’s maintenance and its military research. The
electricity produced in the country is insufficient to meet the countries power requirements
and most of the nation stays in a perpetual state of blackout and power stations staying out of
commission (Buzo, 2018; Lankov, 2014).
Military Power:
DPRK has the largest military institution in the world with one in every 25 citizens
being enlisted and has the highest expenditure on defense in terms of the national GDP,
spending 23% of its GDP on the military infrastructure. DPRK have been working on
Nuclear power since the 1950’s and on nuclear weapons since 2006 conducting several tests.
Moreover, DPRK have also been accused of threatening their neighbor South Korea of
nuclear strikes along with their allies The United States (Pollack, 2017). The totalitarian
governance of the nation along with its routine human rights abuse and breaking of
international nuclear armistice have led to the country being recognized as a ‘rogue’ state by
many nations and international media.
Nuclear Research:
According to some authors, North Korea has been highly active to develop and test
nuclear weapons in the attempt to mark their presence as a nuclear power in the world
(Bleiker, 2018; Myers, 2015; Gauthier, 2016). This have been significantly supported by the
insecurities the country face against the western power who allegedly are trying to overthrow
the government. According to the nation’s media, the nuclear power would be a deterrent for
any country contemplating to attack DPRK and thus is vital for the national defense (Kim &
Cohen, 2017). The country’s propaganda machine also routinely demonizes the western

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powers like USA and their neighbor South Korea being the reason for the problems faced by
DPRK and has on several occasions expressed their intentions to attack them with nuclear
missiles (Howard & Bradshaw, 2017).
Development of Nuclear Weapons:
The development of nuclear weapons by North Korea has been considered to be a
dangerous situation by several international agencies that are afraid of the volatile nature of
the countries diplomacy with the west. It has also been suggested that even if North Korea
might not directly launch nuclear missiles against the western countries, possibly due to the
risks of military retaliation which DPRK can never match, there is a possibility that the North
Korean Government can sell the nuclear weapons in the black market or enemy countries to
the western powers, with the intention of disrupting world peace (Pollack, 2017). Thus, the
development of nuclear weapons can be a serious predicament and point of concern for the
west and its allies such as South Korea. Moreover, it has also been suggested that North
Korea under the rule of Kim Jong Un have been stepped up its nuclear weapons research as a
way to show the authority of the leader and make the other countries to make note of the
power of North Korea and take its leadership more seriously (Jackson, 2018).
This shows how the development of nuclear weapons might been seen as an aspect of
national interest for DPRK as it can help the country to gain more political power and
leverage which the leadership can use to get more international support to aid its ailing
economy while at the same time deter any international interference with its state governance
system and therefore maintain its power and control in the country (Pollack, 2017). It has
been suggested the North Korea’s nuclear program was aimed to create fear among the
western countries and use that fear to leverage policies in favor of the country and remove the
sanctions imposed on the country (Lankov, 2014). According to the state’s media, the

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sanctions that were imposed on North Korea for its nuclear program was the reason of its
failing economy and therefore the cause of the famines and failing infrastructure. Such claims
have been sharply debated by international agencies that have reported that the DPRK
government would often hold back the international aids, hoarding the supplies meant for its
people thereby further exacerbating the situation of poverty in the country (Thomson, 2017).
Deplorable condition of North Korean citizens:
The repeated acts of human rights violations against the North Korean citizens, threats
of nuclear airstrikes and the oppressive regime of DPRK grossly violates the international
ethical codes and human rights laws and thus the values of human respect, dignity and
equality (Osnos, 2018). These policies have severely affected the health and wellbeing of the
North Korean people causing a higher incidence of health problems in the country that cannot
be addressed by the failing healthcare system. It has been estimated that the chronic
conditions of socioeconomic deprivations of the country have caused the North Korean
children to have a stunted growth and the average height of children to be less than the South
Korean counterparts even though they are demographically identical (Dorman et al., 2017). It
shows that DPRK is not only mistreating its people, but also routinely exploiting them while
the governmental ideologies are resulting in the reduced access to care and infrastructure
thereby going against the values of human dignity and right to care as well as failing to take
care of its people (Ryu, 2018).
Domestic and International Actors:
The domestic actors in this situation involve the citizens of the country as well as the
administration of the government, including the leadership. The local people are the worst
affected by the situation, having have faced repeated famines and hardships and lack of
infrastructure or governmental support. The international stakeholders that can be related to

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the situation include the international human rights organizations and watchdogs as well as
the western nations who are trying to uphold the values of human rights across the world (He
& Xu, 2017). It has been pointed out that the values of the North Korean government directly
violate the western values of liberty, equality and fraternity which were the cornerstones of
the French revolution and many other revolutions since then. According to some authors, the
wellbeing of the North Korean people can only be assured when the government stops its
oppressive strategies and stop giving harsh punishments to its people for the smallest acts of
disobedience (Dorman et al., 2017; Howard & Bradshaw, 2017).
What is at stake? What should be done about it?
The actions of the North Korean government not only put at stake the global security
and world peace, but also the values of human rights, dignity and freedom. John F Kennedy
famously quoted that “The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are
threatened” and it impels that every act of human right violation is a crime against humanity
itself (Ponterotto, 2017). It therefore becomes a moral duty of the national leaders to act
against such actions and ensure that DPRK respects the human rights of its people. It has also
been stated that “Leaders who are silent and do nothing are as guilty and do worse than those
who commit these horrific attack” showing the importance of world leaders to act against
such crimes (Jackson, 2018).
Recommendations:
Based on the status quo, several recommendations can be made for the President of
the United States of America that can ensure that North Korea puts an end to its nuclear
weapons program as well as put an immediate stop to the systematic human rights violations
against its own people.

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Recommendation #1: Using a more aggressive approach to convince North Korea to close its
hard labor camps and use trials for the convicts based on international human rights law.
Justification and possible outcomes: The labor camps have been the point of concern for
most of the human rights watchdogs for its systematic violations of human rights and
mistreatment of people. Closing the labor camps can help to prevent further atrocities on its
people and help the release of thousands of prisoners who have been convicted without a fair
trial (Ulferts & Howard, 2017; Cohen, 2018).
Reccomendation#2: Putting an end to the policy of three generations of the offenders.
Justification and possible outcomes: The practice of incarcerating three generations of an
offender in order to prevent crime results in the innocent people being punished for the crime
of a family member and thus needs to be ended. Since DPRK does not show any conviction
to change such policies, international pressure must be given on this point. This can help to
protect thousands of innocent civilians from prosecution and punishments (Jervis, 2018).
Recommendation #3: Providing support to North Korea to develop its energy infrastructure
so that it does not have to depend on nuclear energy.
Justification and possible outcomes: Helping DPRK to meet its energy needs can actually
help to gain the trust of the North Korean government and its people and thus act as an
incentive to follow the terms and conditions laid out by them (Cha & Kang, 2018).
Recommendation #4: Internally destabilize the North Korean government and help the
power to be transferred back to the masses from the Kim Jong dynasty.
Justification and possible outcomes: Since the Kim Jong dynasty has been involved in the
implementation and maintenance of the totalitarian governance in North Korea, helping to
overthrow the government can actually help the power to go back to its people and therefore

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help to improve their conditions. However, such an act can also increase the risks of political
tensions between North Korea and its allies with the western powers (Cha & Kang, 2018).
Recommendation #5: Using a python strategy of more restrictive policies for North Korea
with little possibility of negotiations or flexibility to ensure all the terms and conditions are
met by DPRK.
Justification and possible outcomes: Stronger and more restrictive policies against DPRK
can have two significant outcomes. Firstly it can make the sustenance of the government
more challenging and secondly can increase the internal tensions against the government.
This can either cause the government to get destabilized or take actions to remove those
restrictions by following the policies (Klingner, 2017).
Recommendation #7: Pressurizing the allies of DPRK such as China and Russia through
international organizations to persuade DPRK to the international terms.
Justification and possible outcomes: The allies of DPRK like China and Russia are the
biggest reasons why DPRK was able to overcome its financial problems and maintain its
control over the people. The existence of a communist country acted as a political buffer for
China and Russia, from the influences of South Korea and Japan which reinforced their
alliance. However, if China and Russia starts to actively pressurize DPRK against its
oppressive policies and its nuclear weapons program, it is more likely that the DPRK
leadership would listen to them (Stueck, 2017).
The alternate strategy to all these recommendations is to use military force against North
Korea by strategically attacking the nuclear missile sites and army installations and targets
across North Korea (Jackson, 2018). Invading the country can also help to free the political
prisoners and civilians who are unlawfully imprisoned in the gulags. However such a strong

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action can also cause an international retaliation against USA, especially from China and
Russia who are the key allies of DPRK (Luttwak, 2018). To avoid such a scenario, the use of
military force needs to be decided through a joint agreement and approval from all the
countries, DPRK allies included (Pollack, 2017).

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