Trends, North Korea / The Milken Institute Review

Abstract

North Korea has been both a puzzle and an irritant to the international community for more than half a century. This highly secretive autocratic state possesses nuclear weapons, yet it depends on handouts to stave off mass famine. And just when it seems to be inching toward a more rational relationship with its neighbors, an incident like the March 2010 sinking of a South Korean navy ship, Cheonan, reminds the outside world about how little it knows about how North Korea makes policy decisions.