North Korea's Foreign Policy

"North Korea's Foreign Policy," edited by Scott A. Snyder and Kyung-Ae Park, is an excellent multi-authored book assessing North Korea's foreign policy under Kim Jong-un in a comprehensive way. In his first decade of power, Kim Jong-un has strengthened North Korea through military development at a severe cost to his ability to bring economic prosperity to the people. The North Korean leader has taken audacious risks to strengthen and preserve his own rule, creating significant international backlash which has ultimately hindered his plans. These elements are accurately assessed in this book, helping to confirm that, to achieve his goals, the North Korean leader would need the support of the international community. A condition that, at the moment, Kim Jong-un is unable to secure....This book is an excellent tool for general readers interested in gaining a better understanding of Kim Jong-un's leadership, as well as for experienced analysts already familiar with Northeast Asian geopolitics.

An important read co-authored by one of our nation's top scholars of modern North Korea, whose insights and advice were invaluable during the most recent chapter of negotiations with North Korea.

For those wondering what the legacy and lessons of the Trump-Kim meetings and "love letters" are, or why successive American and South Korean policies toward North Korea never seem to work, this book's impressive set of authors serves up fresh thinking and detail about what drives Pyongyang, and Kim Jong Un. It is an essential resource for understanding the first ten years of Kim Jong Un, for thinking about where North Korea might be headed, and how we can shape more effective policy approaches.

Snyder and Park did a superb job assembling an impressive set of papers on North Korea's foreign policy over the last decade under the Kim Jong-un regime. This book focuses on North Korea's conflictual relationships with the US and South Korea. This excellent book is an important addition to Jacques Fuqua's Nuclear Endgame: The Need for Engagement with North Korea (CH, Apr'08, 45-4642). Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty and professionals.