​15 assumptions about the behavior of North Korea’s Kim Family Regime (KFR)

By David Maxwell

Best Defense guest columnist

The KFR will not give up its nuclear and missile programs. China and Russia will not solve the Korean Question or force the KFR to give up its nuclear and missile programs. China and Russia will exploit KFR threats to undermine U.S. credibility and split the ROK/U.S. alliance. A preemptive strike will not be able to eliminate the KFR nuclear and missile threats. A preemptive strike will result in a catastrophic response from the north. Survival of the KFR remains the vital national interest to the north, thus it can be deterred from catastrophic attack. The regime will not trust any security guarantee by the United States and will not waver from the belief that the United States seeks the end of the KFR. Sanctions do not help the problem without enforcement by China and the international community. KFR global illicit activities provide hard currency to support the regime and nuclear and missile programs The north will only submit to unification if the KFR remains in power. The north is prepared to achieve unification by coercion of the ROK or force. The most important deterrent to resuming hostilities by north Korea is to sustain the illusion that the Kim family regime will continue to survive. Policy of the Trump and Moon administrations are mostly in accord re: NK and should remain constant — both agree to (1) pursue denuclearization of North Korea in a peaceful manner — i.e., without seeking ‘regime change’; (2) to the use of sanctions/pressure as diplomatic tools; (3) and to supporting South Korea’s lead role in re-opening interKorean dialogue Emboldened by the above, President Moon Jae-in will doggedly pursue the policy tenets and principles that support his new Berlin Doctrine. The only way we are going to see an end to the nuclear program and threats and to the crimes against humanity being committed against the Korean people living in the north by the mafia-like crime family cult known as the Kim family regime is through achievement of unification and the establishment of a United Republic of Korea that is secure and stable, nonnuclear, economically vibrant, and unified under a liberal constitutional form of government determined by the Korean people.

David S. Maxwell is the associate director of the Center for Security Studies and Security Studies Program in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces Colonel with five tours in Korea.

Photo credit: KCNA/AFP/Getty Images