Understanding North Korea Indigenous Perspectives [Hardcover]

This is a fascinating collection of articles on North Korea by top-notch native South Korean specialists. Balanced, penetrating, and empirically rich analyses. The book is a must read for those who are interested in contemporary North Korea.This book should be read by Korea-concerned scholars, policy makers, media commentators, and the public throughout the worldespecially in the United States, Japan, China, Russia, and in both parts of divided Korea.For Americans who want to go beyond the headlines to deepen their understanding of North Korea, this accessible and informative book by knowledgeable South Korean specialists is an excellent starting point.For South Korean scholars, North Korea is a subject of research pregnant with the meaning of survival of the Korean Peninsula. Based on such a unique position, authors in this book raise and address questions such as how long stability will be maintained in the Kim Jong-un regime, who the power elites behind the system are, and if the North Korean economy is still a Communist planned economy.Why does North Korea want to possess nuclear capabilities? In order to find the answer to this question, we must have an accurate understanding of the history and structure of the North Korean regime. So far, we have only formed conjectures and predictions regarding North Korea based on our own perspectives; we now need to deal with and consider North Korea as is to reach viable solutions to the issues North Korea presents. This volume contains analyses of the most salient, critical issues pertinent to understanding the North Korean regime, penned by representative Korean scholars of North Korea. As such, the book examines the historical formation of North Korea, the identities of those power elite, and the relative stability (or instability, as the case may be) of the new regime under Kim Jong-un.Also an important aspect to consider is the possibility of socio-economic change in North Korea. Though North Korea has remained rel“+