This article discusses the current situation on the Korean Peninsula. Currently South Korea is preparing to begin joint drills with the United States, which has put North Korea on a full combat alert. North Korea's paranoia stems from the perpetually strained relationship between itself and South Korea, and the fact that the two countries are technically still at war after over fifty years. The drills, which have been conducted every year for the past few decades without incident, are only intended to test the readiness of the US and South Korea's defense systems. North Korea, however, believes otherwise, and prepares itself so that it can act accordingly in the event of an actual attack.
I felt like this article had a great deal of realist theory laced through it. Mearsheimer talks about the bedrock assumptions of anarchy and realism in The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. One of these assumptions is that "states can never be certain about other states' intentions." Here, North Korea is unsure about South Korea's intentions; they see the drills as nuclear war maneuvers instead of simple tests. Therefore, North Korea acts accordingly, aka they prepare for conflict militarily. From this a great deal of tension has arisen, only worsening the situation between the two disagreeing states. However, my question is why does North Korea keep preparing militarily for these drills if they have gone on for decades without an attack or incident? It is a measure of pride or is the North Korean government really believe that South Korea with attack them one of these days?
I agree that this article has a primarily realist tone. In response to your questions, Lora, I think that the reason North Korea keeps preparing militarily in response to these drills is because ultimately they can never be certain of South Korea's intentions, which as you point out is one of Mearsheimer's assumptions of realism. Whether or not they think they are going to be attacked, North Korea realizes that it is always a possibility. Perhaps by preparing their own military and making a "big deal" out of it, they hope to deter any possible attacks and send a clear message that they are also prepared.
ReplyDeleteThis situation clearly shows that North Korea does take a realist approach to relations with the rest of the world. Instead of making decisions and acting on what they know of South Korea from previous interactions (S. Korea has never harmed N. Korea with these drills) as a constructivist would, the North Koreans are basing their actions upon what the worst possible situation might be. Realists try to always be prepared for the worst, which actually might be a good idea when dealing with a country that has been an enemy for fifty years. However, constructivist logic makes sense here, since South Korea has proved, through years of performing non-aggressive drills, that it wishes only to test its capabilities, and not to harm North Korea.
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