Military-First (Songun) Politics: Implications for External Policies

Abstract

A country’s foreign policy is always affected by its ideological stance. But nowhere is this the case more pronouncedly than in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Since the inception of the political system in 1948, and especially following the Korean War (1950–1953), Pyongyang’s foreign policy has closely and directly reflected its ruling political ideology. The purpose of this chapter is to ascertain the way in which the official ideology of Juche has decisively influenced how the government has chosen to conduct its foreign and diplomatic policy. The core tool by which the North Korean leadership establishes its basis of regime legitimacy has always been, and will continue to be, ideology. There are two significant reasons for this. First, the mere presence of a powerful and threatening South Korea (with twice the North Korean population, an enormously affluent economy, and a strong military capability that includes a long-standing security alliance with the United States) has forced the North to compete for legitimacy in the eyes and minds of its own people. Second, even as it has had to continue this competition, North Korea lost its entire support system from around the world as the Communist bloc disappeared practically overnight.