THE CENTRE FOR KOREAN RESEARCH PROUDLY PRESENTS

A Revolutionary State: What is North Korea's End Goal?

Benjamin Young (Speaker)

Assistant Professor
Virginia Commonwealth University

Dec 5, 2022 at 2:30PM [PST]

C.K. Choi Building 120
 THE CENTRE FOR KOREAN RESEARCH PROUDLY PRESENTS

A Revolutionary State: What is North Korea's End Goal?

Benjamin Young (Speaker)
Assistant Professor
Virginia Commonwealth University
Dr. Benjamin R. Young is an assistant professor of homeland security and
emergency preparedness at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is the author
of the book, Guns, Guerillas, and the Great Leader: North Korea and the Third
World (Stanford University Press, 2021). Previously, he was an Assistant
Professor in Cyber Leadership & Intelligence at Dakota State University and a
postdoctoral fellow in Strategy and Policy at the U.S Naval War College. He has
published a number of scholarly articles on East Asian history and politics in peer-
reviewed journals. He was a 2018-2019 CSIS/USC NextGen US-Korea Scholar
and has also written journalistic pieces for The Washington Post, The Guardian,
The Diplomat, Nikkei Asia, The National Interest, Reuters, and NKNews.org. Dr.
Young has lived in South Korea during a Fulbright fellowship and has traveled
extensively in North Korea, China, and Russia.

Dec 5, 2022 at 2:30PM [PST]

C.K. Choi Building 120
 THE CENTRE FOR KOREAN RESEARCH PROUDLY PRESENTS

A Revolutionary State: What is North Korea's End Goal?

Since the founding of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (the official name of North Korea, hereafter
DPRK) in 1948, the Kim family regime’s primary objective has been the reunification of the Korean peninsula under
Pyongyang’s terms. Despite South Korea’s rapid economic growth and democratization process, the stated goal of
reunification has not changed in North Korea’s official discourse. However, under Kim Jong Un, Pyongyang’s
posture towards reunification and nuclear weapons has recently been modified. A revision of the Korean Workers'
Party charter and the enshrinement into North Korean national law of preemptive nuclear strikes suggests a more
coercive North Korean grand strategy is now in play. Thus, Pyongyang has likely reached a new stage in its strategic
relationship with South Korea, Japan, and the U.S. In addition, Putin's threat of tactical nuclear strikes in Ukraine
has likely emboldened the North Korean leadership to take similar steps in potential future conflicts with South
Korea or Japan. Despite the importance of these policy changes, few North Korean analysts and scholars have
thoroughly discussed or examined these revisions. This is largely due to a theoretical divide in North Korean studies
about the ultimate goals of the Kim family regime and its possession of nuclear weapons. This talk will examine
these legal revisions under Kim Jong Un and look at the strategic outlook for conflict on the Korean peninsula.

Dec 5, 2022 at 2:30PM [PST]

C.K. Choi Building 120