by Alex Chen ‘20, Staff Writer

The threat of North Korea towards the United States is something that many Americans would say is a serious and concerning problem. As their nuclear program continues to develop better and more reliable medium- and long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles. It would seem to many that the crazed dictator of North Korea is a megalomaniac that would press the button willingly at any given moment to deliver warheads aimed towards the United States and her allies. I believe, however, that this is not the case.

Firstly, no, North Korea isn’t some crazed rogue state that survives only by luck. The North Korean government has played its cards right to maintain its own independence and rule over its people, despite the amount of backlash that it has received from the international community, and is reminiscent of the era of Stalin and Tojo from which it was born. The North Korean government systematically controls its people through a cult of personality around its ruling dynasty, that its people either willingly or out of desperation submit to. It has an impoverished population and plays favoritism towards certain nations to ensure the stability of its regime. North Korea also holds a disproportionately large military in regards to their population and flaunts it through military parades. Most importantly, however, is the fact that North Korea holds decent relations with Russia and China, both of whom are members of the United Nations Security Council and hold massive power projection throughout their respective regions. Don’t forget nuclear weapons either.

The fact is that the North Korean government knows what it’s doing in order to further its own rule. The North Korean strategy is to rely on Russia and China for diplomatic protection and economic support, to use said support to establish its authority over the population, and to use nuclear weapons as a further deterrent from outlash against war. North Korea would never—and I repeat never—willingly initiate a first strike. The Cuban Missile Crisis is a good example why they won’t. Neither Kennedy nor Khrushchev wanted to use their respective nuclear arsenals under any favorable circumstances. Khrushchev managed to utilize nuclear weapons by secretly shipping them to Cuba. He also used it as an opportunity to make a deal with Kennedy to pull NATO nuclear weapons out of Turkey that were aimed at Moscow, in exchange for removing the ones in Cuba. North Korea will use nuclear weapons as diplomatic weapons, as they are its trump card when it comes to international diplomacy. Secondly, China has pledged to support North Korea if attacked, but won’t if North Korea initiates the attack. In short, neither side wants war because both recognize that nuclear attacks would severely damage, if not destroy, both.

Although nuclear war is not an imminent threat, we shouldn’t just idly stand by. Many have died to the North Korean regime outside of their citizenry, such as Otto Warmbier, an American citizen who was abused in a prison camp in North Korea and later died within U.S. borders, not to mention the countless civilians who have died from North Korean missile launches. When asked about how dangerous a threat North Korea is to world peace, one student who preferred to remain anonymous answered, “Considering current relations, with Trump being president, [the threat is] rather high,” reflecting the student’s distrust of both leaders in maintaining peace. Another student made a bolder claim when answering this question, stating “[It’s] not at all [a threat]. As a matter of fact, I am questioning China’s dubious interests. Plus, our technology is superior and could wipe them out in a few hours.” Whatever threat you believe North Korea is to the world, it is important to remember that as long as their current administration exists, so too does the threat to the civilian populations both inside and outside of their borders.