Nuclear North Korea A Debate On Engagement Strategies [Hardcover]

Victor D. Cha is associate professor of government and D. S. Song–Korea Foundation Chair, Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. He is the author of Alignment Despite Antagonism: The United States-Korea-Japan Security Triangle, which won the 2000 Ohira Book Prize. David C. Kang is an associate professor in the department of government and an adjunct associate professor at the Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College. He is the author of Crony Capitalism: Corruption and Development in Korea and the Philippines.The regime of Kim Jong-Il has been called "mad," "rogue," even, by the Wall Street Journal, the equivalent of an "unreformed serial killer." Yet, despite the avalanche of television and print coverage of the Pyongyang government's violation of nuclear nonproliferation agreements and existing scholarly literature on North Korean policy and security, this critical issue remains mired in political punditry and often misleading sound bites. Victor Cha and David Kang step back from the daily newspaper coverage and cable news commentary and offer a reasoned, rational, and logical debate on the nature of the North Korean regime.

Coming to the issues from different perspectives—Kang believes the threat posed by Pyongyang has been inflated and endorses a more open approach, while Cha is more skeptical and advocates harsher measures—the authors together have written an essential work of clear-eyed reflection and authoritative analysis. They refute a number of misconceptions and challenge much faulty thinking that surrounds the discussion of North Korea, particularly the idea that North Korea is an irrational nation. Cha and Kang contend that however provocative, even deplorable, the Pyongyang government's behavior may at times be, it is not incomprehensible or incoherent. Neither is it "suicidal," they arlB