Daniel Leybzon

The Role of Race in North Korean International Relations

The Introduction:
The Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea is one of the least understood and most
talked about states in the world. Hiding behind strict censorship, the regime has managed to
befuddle some of the most respected scholars and analysts of our age. The disinformation spread
by the Korean Central News Agency makes divining the motives and plans of the North Korean
government a particularly complex matter. The perception of the DPRK as a communist or
Communist governmentwhich stems from both a misunderstanding of the works of the
works of most communist writers and from a continued Cold War mentality in most
newsroomshinders the ability of most observers to analyze North Korea as what it truly is: a
race-based ethno-nationalist fascist state. I will begin by deconstructing the myth of a communist
DPRK, then provide evidence for my hypothesis that North Koreas legitimacy stems from racial
ethno-nationalism, and finish by explaining why this causes the DPRK act in ways considered
irrational by many scholars.

The Myth of Communism:

Daniel Leybzon
1

The Wall Street Journal , the New York Times , Brookings , the Heritage Foundation4,
and the BBC5 all refer to the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea as communist or
Communist, and they are all incorrect. The BBC at least qualifies its claim by describing North
Korea as nominally communist, but even this is a falsehood. Ignoring the fact that the word
communist has been appropriated by totalitarian states whose governance shares no resemblance
to the works of Marx and other communist writers6, and the fact that Lenin explicitly referred to
the USSR as state capitalist7, the similarities between between the USSR and the DPRK are
few and far between.

To begin with, its worth clarifying that even the term communist state is an oxymoron.
The system of communism explicitly excludes the existence of the state8. This has, however,
never stopped the general public, scholars, and the media from referring to Soviet-aligned states
as communist. The New York Times at least has the intellectual honesty to use the capitalized
Communist when referring to Soviet-aligned states or states with a system of governance
similar to that of the USSR, and this author will do the same.

Solomon, Jay, Julian Barnes, and Alastair Gale. "North Korea Warned." Wall Street Journal, March 29,
2013. Accessed December 3, 2014.
http://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323501004578389162106323642.
2
McDonald, Mark. "An Unlikely Pairing Bears Fruit in North Korea." The New York Times, October 25,
2010. Accessed December 3, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/26/world/asia/26pyongyang.html.
3
Bush, Richard. "North Korea's Nuclear Bargain." The Brookings Institution. May 26, 2009. Accessed
December 3, 2014. http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2009/05/26-north-korea-bush.
4
Brooks, Peter. "North Korea: Master of Mayhem." The Heritage Foundation. August 4, 2009. Accessed
December 3, 2014. http://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2009/08/north-korea-master-ofmayhem.
5
"North Korea Profile." BBC, October 4, 2014. Accessed December 3, 2014.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-15256929.
6
Communism: The Promise and the Reality. PBS, 2000. Film.
7
Lenin, Vladimir. Lenin Collected Works. Vol. 42. Moscow: Progress, 1971. 425-427.
8
Bukharin, Nikolai, and Evgenii Preobrazhensky. "Communism and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat." In
The ABC of Communism. Penguin Books, 1969.

Daniel Leybzon

To prove that the DPRK isnt even Big C Communist, we must first come up with a
criteria for what it means to be a nominally Communist state. A simple criteria is difficult to
find, as the term is a rather hastily applied generalization which rigorous authors would avoid.
However, for the sake of this paper, in order to be a nominally Communist state, a regime must
satisfy three requirements: its ideology must be some variation of Marxism or based in Marxist
thought; it must be ruled by a single Communist party9; and it must have a centrally planned
economy. The USSR satisfied all three of these requirements, but the DPRK satisfies none.

Starting with the first requirement of an ideology based on Marxism or Marxist thought,
it is clear that the misconception that the DPRKs dogma is based in Marxism is blatantly false.
The most recent constitution doesnt include the word communism at all10, and the use of the
word socialism is best understood in the same context as the word socialism in Nazi Germanys
ruling National-Socialist party. Although at the DPRKs formation it adopted Marxism-Leninism
as officially ideology, Kim Il-Sung purge of Soviet-aligned Marxist-Leninists11 began a definite
move away from the ideology of Marx. With the introduction of the Juche idea (generally
translated as self-reliance, and discussed more later in this paper) and the adoption of Juche in
the constitution12, a uniquely North Korean dogma began to take hold. Soon the works of Marx

Steele, David Ramsay. From Marx to Mises: Post-capitalist Society and the Challenge of Economic
Calculation. La Salle, Ill.: Open Court, 1992. 45.
10
Meyers, B. R. "The Constitution of Kim Jong Il." Wall Street Journal, October 1, 2009. Accessed
December 3, 2014.
http://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704471504574445980801810944.
11
"North Korean Purges." Global Security. Accessed December 9, 2014.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/dprk/leadership-purges.htm.
12
Hale, Christopher. "Multifunctional Juche: A Study of the Changing Dynamic between Juche and the
State Constitution in North Korea." Korea Journal 42, no. 3 (2002): 283-308. Accessed December 5,
2014. https://www.ekoreajournal.net/issue/view_pop.htm?Idx=3206.

Daniel Leybzon
13

were removed from the libraries in North Korea , and in 1976 Kim Jong-Il wrote both in
content and in composition, Kimilsungism is an original idea that cannot be explained within the
framework of Marxism-Leninism.14

The PRC has the Communist Party of China15, the USSR had the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union16, Cuba has the Communist Party of Cuba17, and Vietnam has the Communist Party
of Vietnam18, but there exists no Communist Party of North Korea. In fact, the ruling front in the
DPRK, the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland19, is composed of three
nominal parties: the dominant Workers Party of Korea and the largely decorative Korean Social
Democratic Party20 and Chondoist Chongu Party21. While the second two parties may not have
any de facto influence on the DPRKs policies, even their existence flies in the face of
precedence. And the ruling Workers Party is not only not Communist in name; its charter
mirrors the countrys constitution by not even giving Marx, Lenin, or Communism lip service22.

13

"North Korean Intellectuals Oppressed and Watched." DailyNK, October 22, 2009. Accessed
December 1, 2014. http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk02500&num=4198.
14
"On Correctly Understanding the Originality of Kimilsungism." Speech, Talk to Theoretical
Propagandists of the Party, , October 2, 1972.
15
Hong'e, Mo. "History of the Communist Party of China." April 29, 2011. Accessed December 2, 2014.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-04/29/c_13851746.htm.
16
Gill, Graeme. "Communist Party of the Soviet Union." Encyclopedia of Russian History. Edited by
James Millar. Vol. 1. Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. 306.
17
"Communist Party of Cuba." Global Security. Accessed December 2, 2014.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/cuba/communist-party.htm.
18
Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee. Accessed December 2, 2014.
http://dangcongsan.vn/cpv/index_e.html.
19
"Constitutional and Parliamentary Information." January 1, 1992. Accessed December 3, 2014.
http://web.archive.org/web/20060819210708/http://www.asgp.info/Publications/CPIEnglish/1992_163_01-e.pdf.
20
"Korean Social Democratic Party." Naenara. Accessed December 3, 2014.
http://www.naenara.com.kp/en/great/political.php?2.
21
"Chondoist Chongu Party." Naenara. Accessed December 3, 2014.
http://www.naenara.com.kp/en/great/political.php?3.
22
O'Carroll, Chad. "Kim Il Sung Square Gets A New Look." NK News. October 9, 2012. Accessed
December 6, 2014. http://www.nknews.org/2012/10/kim-il-sung-square-gets-a-new-look-2/.

Daniel Leybzon

On the final criteria, that of a centrally planned economy, the DPRK similarly fails to be
even nominally Communist. The myth of a government-controlled economy has been thoroughly
debunked by numerous scholars23. While the State is still certainly involved in numerous areas of
economic venture, there exists a significant market basis for the economy. Foreign multinational
corporations not only compete with the government to provide products24, they even hire North
Korean labourers in special economic zones25. But perhaps more importantly, on an unofficial
level, the black market is what truly drives the North Korean economy. Smuggling over the
Chinese border brings in much needed manufactured goods26, while on a domestic level much
food production occurs in illegal, family plots27. This black market is apparently so significant
and developed that it even has a recent de facto currency: the choco pie28. It is difficult to
estimate the scale of this black market, not least because even official economic data is rarely
released by the Kim regime, but it seems to be significant. A North Korean is even quoted saying
Most people are now involved in the black market because if they don't go to the black market
to do business, they cannot survive.29

Deconstructing the myth of North Korean Communism is not simply an exercise of

splitting hairs or correcting a frequent linguistic mistake; it is instrumental to understanding the

23

Lankov, Andrei. "Welcome to Capitalism, North Korean Comrades." NAPSNet Policy Forum, January 4,
2005.
24
Abt, Felix. A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom. Tuttle Publishing, 2014.
25
"NKorea Opens Int'l Trade Fair at Economic Zone." BusinessWeek, August 22, 2011.
26
"Smuggling Between China and North Korea Still Prevalent." Institute for Far Eastern Studies. October
22, 2014. Accessed December 4, 2014.
http://ifes.kyungnam.ac.kr/eng/FRM/FRM_0101V.aspx?code=FRM141022_0002.
27
"The New Capitalists." Economist, February 9, 2013. Accessed December 1, 2014.
http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21571421-even-another-nuclear-provocation-looms-hopeglimmers-worlds-most-oppressed-people.
28
Park, Madison, Frances Cha, and Evelio Contreras. "How Choco Pie Infiltrated North Korea's Sweet
Tooth." CNN, January 27, 2014.
29
Wee, Heesun. "How Millennials Are Shaking North Koreas Regime." CNBC, November 15, 2014.

Daniel Leybzon

claim of the Kim regime to governance, which in turn is key to predicting the actions and
reactions of the DPRK. If the Kim dynastys claim to legitimacy truly stemmed from
Communism, then its interest would be in presenting itself as successfully uniting the working
class30. After all, why would a people live in subservience to a ruler who claimed a future
economic utopia, but never even came close to delivering. The counterargument could be made
that perhaps the people of North Korea are unaware of how dire their situation is, mirroring the
situation in the Soviet Union where even outside observers were unaware of the scale of
economic stagnation31. However, this counter-argument is easily debunked. As North Korean
defectors report, most North Koreans are not delusional enough to be unaware of the economic
hardship that the North Korean people are enduring32. Rolling blackouts33, widespread
malnutrition34, and growing information about the economic conditions of the outside world35
are hard to ignore. The regimes claim to legitimacy lies not in communism, but in ethnonationalism.

The Importance of Ethno-Nationalism:

History shapes the present, and is therefore instrumental to understanding the world
around us today. Many scholars in studying North Korea do not look further than the historical
30

Charlton, Roger. Comparative Government. London: Longman, 1987.

Mitchell, Brian. "Myth Of U.S.S.R.'s Strong Economy." Investors Business Daily, December 10, 1999.
Accessed December 8, 2014. http://www.autentico.org/oa09330.php.
32
Stevenson, Jim. "North Korean Defectors Tell of Hardships and Hope." Voice of America. November 5,
2010. Accessed December 8, 2014. http://www.voanews.com/content/north-korean-defectors-tell-ofhardships-and-hope-part-1-106833298/166612.html.
33
Laurence, Jeremy. "Pyongyangs Worst Power Outage in Years Leaves North Korean Capital Freezing,
in Darkness." National Post, February 1, 2012. Accessed December 8, 2014.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/01/pyongyangs-worst-power-outage-in-years-leaves-north-koreancapital-freezing-in-darkness/.
34
"North Korea: Malnutrition Persists." New York Times, November 28, 2013. Accessed December 8,
2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/29/world/asia/north-korea-malnutrition-persists.html?_r=0.
35
"Awareness Of Outside World Growing In North Korea." National Public Radio, June 15, 2010.
Accessed December 8, 2014. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127836840.
31

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36

role that Korea played as a Chinese tributary state . They frequently emphasize the spread of
Chinese Confucianism to the Korean peninsula, claiming that the Korean paradigm is at heart a
Confucian one. This fails to take into account that following the 1910 fall of the Joseon Dynasty,
Confucianism lost much of its influence in Korea37. Following the fall of a Chinese-tributary
Korea, the Japanese controlling the peninsula needed a way to shift Korean loyalties away from
China and to its new imperial master. Japan did this by expanding its conception of minjok
(which roughly translates as ethnic group) and claiming that Koreans and Japanese came from
the same ethnic stock38. The Japanese government even released a postcard showing a Japanese
schoolboy and a Korean schoolboy running together in a three-legged race39. This theory took
off, with Korean academic Shin Chae-Ho writing about how all Korean are descendants of the
legendary Dangun, founder of the first Korean kingdom40.

But it was not only because of Japanese homogenizing racial theory that Korea developed
its own racial view of nationhood; it was also in spite of Japanese colonialism. Korean
nationalism became key not to pro-Japanese elements within the peninsula, but to the Korean
independence movement. Another Korean academic, Yi Kwang-Su, wrote about the three
elements fundamental the nationhood: "hyeoltong" (bloodline), "seonggyeok" (personality), and
"munhwa" (culture). He wrote that "Koreans are without a doubt a unitary nation in blood and

36

Washburn, Taylor. "How an Ancient Kingdom Explains Today's China-Korea Relations." Atlantic, April
15, 2013.
37
"Confucianism in Contemporary Korea." In Confucian Traditions in East Asian Modernity, edited by Tu
Wei-Ming, by Koh Byong-ik. Harvard University Press, 1996.
38
Ethnic Nationalism in Korea: Genealogy, Politics, and Legacy. 1st ed. Stanford University Press, 2006.
39
Meyers, B. R. The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters. Melville
House, 2011.
40
Constructing "Korean" Origins: A Critical Review of Archaeology, Historiography, and Racial Myth in
Korean State Formation Theories. Harvard University Asia Center, 2000.

Daniel Leybzon
41

culture." This newly-forming concept of ethnic homogeneity within the peninsula was key to
the Korean struggle against Japanese occupation42. Indeed, the Korean student population, which
was hugely important to the Korean independence movement, was largely agitated by the
renewed interest in Korean culture at Korean universities43.

Incidence of racial violence and racial language are not the exception in the Korean
peninsula, they are the norm. In 1965 a North Korean mob attacked an Afro-Cuban ambassador
and his family44. In South Korea mixed-race couples are frequently attacked with racial slurs,
often without a prosecutory response45. A recent Korean Central News Agency article refers to
Barack Obama as still [having] the figure of monkey while the human race has evolved through
millions of years.46 A 2007 United Nations report on South Korea notes that there is
widespread societal discrimination against foreigners, including migrant workers and children
born from inter-ethnic unions, in all areas of life, including employment, marriage, housing,
education and interpersonal relationships47. North Korean women who escape to China, become
pregnant there, and then are repatriated to North Korea have their children aborted or killed

41

"Ethnic Pride Source of Prejudice, Discrimination." Korea Herald, August 2, 2006. Accessed December
8, 2014. http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20060803000016.
42
"Pride of the People: South Korea and Korean Nationalism." ISIS Focus, no. 8 (2013). Accessed
December 8, 2014. http://www.isis.org.my/files/IF_2013/IF8/IF8_I2.pdf.
43
Nahm, Andrew. Korea Under Japanese Colonial Rule. 1973.Nahm, Andrew. Korea Under Japanese
Colonial Rule. 1973.
44

"Report on the Incident involving the Cuban Ambassador and the Delegation of Physicians from Cuba while in
North Korea," April 02, 1965, History and Public Policy Program Digital Archive, SAPMO-BA, DY 30, IV A2/20/251.
Translated by Grace Leonard. http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/112305
45

Sang-Hun, Choe. "South Koreans Struggle With Race." New York Times, November 1, 2009.
Accessed December 8, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/world/asia/02race.html.
46
Capehart, Jonathon. "North Koreas Racist Rant against wicked Black Monkey Obama." Washington
Post, May 8, 2014. Accessed December 8, 2014. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/postpartisan/wp/2014/05/08/north-koreas-racist-rant-against-wicked-black-monkey-obama/.
47
"Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination." January 1, 2007. Accessed
December 8, 2014. http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/473424062.pdf.

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48

immediately after birth so as to maintain racial purity. South Koreas top tobacco firm recently
had to pull ads for its This Africa brand of cigarettes, which were deemed racist for displaying
a chimpanzee in a suit49. When, in 2006, a North Korean delegation official said Our nation has
always considered its pure lineage to be of great importance. I am concerned that our singularity
will disappear, the response from the South Korean delegation was hardly in disagreement50.

It is not a coincidence that in 2013 Kim Jong-Un distributed copies of Adolf Hitlers
Mein Kampf to high ranking North Korean officials51, nor that modern German Neo-Nazis are
fascinated with and adore the Pyongyang regime52. The cults of personality adoring the members
of the Kim family are more comparable to the cults of personality surrounding Emperor Hirohito
or Adolf Hitler than Stalin or Mao. Using Max Webers theory of traditional, charismatic, and
legal/rational authorities, we can see that a clear trend emerges53. The Kim family, Emperor
Hirohito, Hitler, Stalin, and Mao all employed their charismatic authority to greater or lesser
extents, and thus each had a cult of personality created around them. However, whereas the
Hirohito and Hitler used traditional power structures and traditional symbols to gain traditional

48

"N Korea 'kills Detainees' Babies'" BBC, October 20, 2003. Accessed December 8, 2014.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3204509.stm.
49
Min-Ho, Jung. "Cigarette Maker Hit for Offending Africa." Korea Times, October 22, 2013. Accessed
December 8, 2014. http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/culture/2013/10/316_144767.html.
50
"Two Koreas' Top Brass Resort to Racist Mudslinging." Chosun Ilbo, January 1, 2006. Accessed
December 8, 2014. http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2006/05/17/2006051761016.html.
51
Fisher, Max. "Report: Kim Jong Un Handing out Copies of Mein Kampf to Senior North Korean
Officials." Washington Post, June 17, 2013. Accessed December 8, 2014.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/06/17/report-kim-jong-un-handing-out-copiesof-mein-kampf-to-senior-north-korean-officials/.
52
Young, Benjamin. "The German Neo-Nazi Fascination with North Korea." Academia.edu. Accessed
December 8, 2014. http://www.academia.edu/5349165/The_German_NeoNazi_Fascination_with_North_Korea.
53
Weber, Max, and Guenther Roth. Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. New
York: Bedminster Press, 1968.

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54

55

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authority , Stalin and Mao relied entirely upon their charismatic authority. The Kim family
has relied on traditional symbols, such as the mythical birth of Kim Il-Sung at the sacred Mount
Paektu57 and the story of Dangun, to legitimize their rule.

Key to understanding the modern North Korean ideology are the twin concepts of juche
and songun. Juche, widely translated as self-reliance, was introduced as the official state
ideology in 1972 and originally formulated in a 1967 speech by Kim Il-Sung. It consists of three
parts: chaju (political independence), charip (economic independence), and chawi (military
independence). These all stress the uniqueness of the Korean nation-state, and emphasize that the
people of the DPRK do not need other nations58. Songun, generally translated as military-first
politics, piggy-backs on the ideas of juche. In order to understand modern North Korea it is
critical to understand the songun idea. With songun came a shift from the Workers Party as the
primary medium of the Kim familys power to the military serving as first Kim Jong-Ils and
now Kim Jong-Uns boots on the ground. Songun also serves to reify the Norths struggle
against what it views as US imperialism. Songun, combined with juche, implies that Korean
reunification is inevitable, as the national feeling in the south will become so strong that they
will throw out American occupying troops and rejoin their brothers in the north59. Juche and

54

Rigney, Daniel. The Metaphorical Society: An Invitation to Social Theory. Lanham: Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers, 2001. 89.
55
Brooks, Jeffrey. Thank You, Comrade Stalin!: Soviet Public Culture from Revolution to Cold War.
Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2000. 238.
56
Andreas, Joel. "The Structure of Charismatic Mobilization: A Case Study of Rebellion During the
Chinese Cultural Revolution." American Sociological Review 72, no. 3 (2007): 434-58. Accessed
December 8, 2014. http://havenscenter.wisc.edu/files/ASR charismatic mobilization.pdf.
57
"Mt Paektu Holds Key Role in N Korea Lore." Taipei Times, April 9, 2012. Accessed December 8,
2014.
58
Lee, Grace. "The political philosophy of Juche." Stanford Journal of East Asian Affairs 3, no. 1 (2003):
105-112.
59
Park, Han S. "Military-First Politics (Songun): Understanding Kim Jong-Ils North Korea." Academic
Paper Series 2, no. 7 (2008).

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songun, rather than socialism or communism, represent the true ideology of the North Korean
government, and both are based upon an ethno-nationalist worldview.

The Effect on International Relations:

With this frame of reference the reader is now better equipped to analyze the foreign
policy of the hermit kingdom. Many describe the actions of the DPRK as irrational or crazy60,
without understanding that the motives underlying the actions of the regime are fundamentally
different than those underlying the actions of the United States or even the Soviet Union. In
order to maintain legitimacy and therefore retain power, the ruler of North Korea, be he Il-Sung,
Jong-Il, or Jong-Un, has to appeal to fundamentally ethno-nationalist elements within his
country. Any sort of concession or cooperation is viewed as weakness, and the development of
nuclear weapons (even if it comes at the cost of international finger-wagging) is important to
maintaining Korean independence. The DPRKs actions in relation to the two biggest issues in
international relations surrounding North Korea (the development of nuclear weapons and
reunification) are best explained with the above information in mind.

Many foreign relations scholars are confused by North Koreas continuing development
of nuclear weapons. After all, they reason, this makes even potential allies (such as the PRC and
Russia) more hostile to the Kim regime. Why would the Kims want to anger the very states
which prop up the North Korean economy? What this question fails to realize is that the Kim
regime isnt reliant on the support of foreigners; they are reliant on the local population viewing
the Kim regime as legitimate. When the Soviet Union collapsed and the DPRKs largest foreign

60

Roy, Denny. "North Korea and the Madman' Theory." Security Dialogue 25, no. 3 (1994): 307-316.

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source of aid was cut off the people of North Korea starved, but the Kim family remained in
power. In February of 2012, the international community celebrated the apparent success of a
United States threat to end food aid if North Korea continued nuclear weapons testing61. It came
as a shock when, just a couple of months later, the DPRK unsuccessfully tested a rocket and did
not apologize even when it was clear that food aid would be cut off62. This should not have been
a surprise. If the North Korean regime bows to international pressure this will fundamentally
conflict with the guiding principle of juche. Furthermore, concessions tied to its nuclear program
conflict with the idea of songun. This explains why the Kim regime is so unwilling to act
rationally when it comes to the continuation of nuclear weapons development.

Similarly, the North has been so unwilling to seriously negotiate reunification because
doing so would undermine the Norths claim to legitimacy as the true Korea. In many ways the
DPRK has already conceded the ROKs economic superiority, so conceding any legitimacy in
terms of who should rule the Korean people would be catastrophic for them63. Although many
South Koreans are now questioning the value of reunification due to the high costs it might
incur64, the North Korean regime believes that the desire for a unified nation-state based on an
ethnic worldview trumps the economic benefits that the South has enjoyed. Indeed, any
concession to the South with respect to reunification would be detrimental to the DPRKs anti61

Myers, Steven Lee, and Choe Sang-Hun. "North Koreans Agree to Freeze Nuclear Work; U.S. to Give
Aid." New York Times, February 9, 2012. Accessed December 8, 2014.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/world/asia/us-says-north-korea-agrees-to-curb-nuclear-work.html.
62
"US Suspends North Korea Food Aid." Al Jazeera, April 14, 2012. Accessed December 8, 2014.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/04/20124140598594521.html.
63
"North Koreas Nationalist Discourse:A Critical Interpretation." Korea Observer 42, no. 2 (2011): 31143. Accessed December 8, 2014.
http://www.academia.edu/822596/North_Korea_s_Nationalist_Discourse_A_Critical_Interpretation.
64
Taylor, Guy. "Young South Koreans Fear Unification with North Would Create Economic Burden."
Washington Times, April 10, 2013. Accessed December 8, 2014.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/apr/10/young-south-koreans-fear-unification-with-north-wo.

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American rhetoric. After all, KCNA (a North Korean news organization) referred to South Korea
as a colony totally dependent on the U.S. and its regime is a puppet one which cannot exercise
even its elementary sovereignty65, and as recently as December 8th of 2014 again referred to it
as a puppet regime66.

The Conclusion:
The questions Why does North Korea continue to develop nuclear weapons? and Why
does North Korea refuse to seriously negotiate about reunification? on the surface might seem
like very different questions. However, the answer to both is really quite simple: the North
Korean regimes legitimacy is based not on the best interest of the people it is ruling, but rather
on the fact that it is a more Korean government. Conceding ground either to the Americans
about nuclear weapons or to the South Korean government about reunification would weaken
their ability to stay in power. Many scholars continue to refer to the DPRK as a Communist
state, but this causes them to fundamentally misunderstand the motivations of the Kim regime. A
Communist state gains legitimacy through enacting policies which benefit the material lives of
the people living under it. The North Korean state freely admits that it is economically worse off
than its counterpart to the South, and instead uses nationalist anti-imperialist (and anti-American)
rhetoric to retain control. This ethno-nationalism is key to understanding the motives of the
regime and explains the actions of the DPRK in relation to both nuclear weapons and Korean
reunification.

65

"British Organizations Term S. Korea U.S. Colony." Korea News Service, August 23, 2014. Accessed
December 8, 2014. http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2014/201408/news23/20140823-05ee.html.
66
"Puppet Regime's Human Rights Abuses Denounced in S. Korea." Korea News Service, December 8,
2014. Accessed December 8, 2014. http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2014/201412/news08/2014120809ee.html.

13