Since the United Nations Security Council passed sweeping new sanctions on North Korea over its recent nuclear tests, the secret state has been quick to demonstrate its defiance with a grizzly show of teeth over the past few days. First by firing missiles into the Eastern Sea and then secondly, reports that Kim Jong Un has the country to be "ready for a nuclear strike". The international media, as usual, has descended into a typical hysteria designed to strike people's fears over an iminent nuclear apocalypse. Kim Jong un is, unsurprisingly, depicted as an unstable madman with no restraint or thought to the consequences of his actions; so everyone should panic.
Except, it's not as simple as that. North Korea is the state that cries wolf, the events of the past two days are very much business as usual. There will be no war, no conflict and no nukes. It is not an unpredictable frenzy of delusion and idiocy, but a very predictable and patterned outproduct of the North Korean system based on a calculated realpolitik, designed to secure both the regime's survival and Kim Jong Un's personal political survival.
North Korea, as a "Juche", (self-reliance) state, has only one priority and that is to secure the continuation of its existence, its sovereignty and its independence. It is a state that was born in the perceptions of threat, paranoia, insecurity and domination. Surrounded by a hostile international climate, the hermit kingdom pursues a brutal security politic which cares little for the lives of its own citizens and economic prosperity. Effectively though, is this security situation likewise exploited by its leadership. By continually provoking political and diplomatic crises, the regime is able to continually enforce the status quo, resist pressures for internal change and liberalization, as well as preventing its enemies from subduing it and extracting "concessions" in aid.
The result is that North Korea is an international troll which continually makes threats of war with no serious intent of following through with it. The political system thrives on antagonism, on threat and hostility from foreign powers. If it cannot receive these things, then it would be forced to look for other ways to legitimate its rule and pursue the reform. Therefore, the nuclear weapons program serves two purposes: 1) as a serious deterrent from American aggression (which for them and for most of the world, is a reality) but likewise 2) A diplomatic and political pawn to draw antagonism from the international community with the eventual goal of extracting "concessions" from it, it is a means to an end to something else.
The western media, especially that of South Korea, Japan and the United States, like to pursue North Korea as the menacing and pariah "communist" state, a meglomaniac threat to world peace. This plays North Korea's game because it takes the threats they make seriously, when they aren't (as for their agenda, it provides an excuse for greater American militarization in East Asia). Without a doubt, even if North Korea could launch a nuclear strike, the response given would ensure the end of their regime. North Korea cannot fight a war, hell, it cannot even feed its own people nevermind battle the United States, its NATO partners, South Korea and Japan!
Therefore, when North Korea is sanctioned, this also plays its political game. Whilst it is true North Korea seeks foreign currency to build its nuclear weapons program and support the lavish lifestyle of its leadership, it has illicit ways of funding these activites and does not care at all about the economic costs the ordinary people of the country might endure from western pressure. The North Korean economy collapsed altogether in the 1990s and millions of people starved to death, providing the regime can still secure its power in those conditions, why would they care about sanctions? Their response is rather to "prove" they don't care, by launching more missiles and making more threats. North Korea simply shows its refusal to conform, its refusal to cave in to any pressure or any state.
On the inside, the regime will use these sanctions as an excuse to talk up the "external threat" to its people as a perfect scapegoat to all of the country's problems. Likewise, amongst those in the elite circles who could be potential challengers to the Kim Jong Un regime, putting the country on nuclear alert allows him to demonstrate a show of strength, "standing up their enemies" and therefore command obedience and unity. As Kim demonstrates himself as the benevolent leader who is battling a brave struggle and show of defiance against North Korea's detractors, defending the state which is "always under threat", he effectively legitimates himself.
Thus with the nuclear program North Korea will continually keep raising the stakes because it is politically advantageous to do so. It is not "pressure" or "sanctions" that will make it get rid of it, rather, it is when they believe they can extract the biggest concessions possible for doing so. North Korea is still interested in peace and even making peace with the United States, but, it will come with a cost that North Korea will seek to exploit to the best of their ability. That is why when Obama tried to open secret talks with North Korea concerning their nuclear program before the test, they rebuffed him. When the time comes that North Korea does decide to give up its nuclear program and make peace with America, Kim Jong Un will be quickly presented as hero who resisted the "Imperialist aggressors", "saved the Korean nation from destruction" and got a very good deal from its people
But to conclude though, North Korea is the state that cries wolf. These threats, these responses are business as usual and they have become an integral part of the system and leadership securing their own political survival in these conditions. Whilst it is silly to dismiss someone as a joke when they're pointing a nuclear bomb at you, you can dismiss this as fluff just fed by ridiculous media hype. Now if I had a pound for every time North Korea threatened war...
