Understanding North Korea

Another long challenge shared by the Indo-Pacific region

Lt. Gen. (Ret.) CHUN In-Bum/Republic of Korea Army

A long and challenging negotiation process is ahead for the United States and North Korea. The focus is North Korea’s illicit nuclear weapons capability as well as other weapons of mass destruction and their delivery means. To understand the full scale of challenges that faces any nation that must work with North Korea, one must understand North Korea and its military capabilities. 

Although North Korea’s conventional forces operate obsolete tanks and aircraft with limited proficiency, its Korean People’s Army is still invested in areas that make it a force to be reckoned with. First, in addition to maintaining a garrison nation and a standing army of over 1 million troops, North Korea maintains a fitter and better-equipped ground force that it views as special forces. North Korea’s special forces are inferior in equipment and training compared to most modern militaries, but they are motivated and physically fit. The North Koreans have also armed themselves with more than 10,000 man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS), which are shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles that are typically guided weapons and a threat to low-flying aircraft, especially helicopters. Many of the MANPADS are mounted on armored personnel carriers, tanks and self-propelled artillery. The large number of MANPADS-equipped vehicles, combined with North Korea’s wide variety of conventional anti-aircraft artillery, would make rotary aircraft operations difficult and dangerous, especially during daytime.

Second, North Korea has been investing in GPS-jamming capabilities and the use of cheap disposable drones. The potential consequence would be disruption of precision munitions from air, sea and land platforms and the likely threat of drone reconnaissance, jamming and weapons delivery to include biological and chemical agents. Up to this point, South Korea has had difficulty detecting these drones, let alone shooting them down. This will be another form of North Korean capability that is hard to react to not only because of a lack of counter capability but also because of the potential for misunderstanding and escalation.

The third and alarming threat is North Korea’s cyber capability. North Korea is a cyber superpower. North Korea’s cyber capability stems from its ability to recruit from its entire population. Talented and gifted people can be directed to work as cyber warriors without factoring any personal considerations. Because the North Korean government operates without any moral or legal inhibitions, it can experiment with and execute operations that provide its cyber operators more experience and expertise. North Korea’s cyber recruitment and training programs have been going on for at least 20 years. Security analysts have verified that North Korea is involved in international cyber theft activities and capable of cyber intimidation, sabotage and direct attacks on infrastructure.

Subjugation from birth

Finally, there is an aspect of North Korea that is disturbing: Deeply ingrained in its culture is the practice of discriminating against people on the basis of their origin of birth. This is more than a social issue. North Korean society uses Songbun, a caste system, to maintain control over its people. The oppressive system proved effective for the regime, withstanding the famines in the 1990s.

The North Korean leadership divides its population essentially from birth into three large categories and now has 45 subcategories of the population. At the top is the “core” of North Korean society. This group contains descendants of revolutionaries, those who were born from parents who fought in the wars against the Japanese and Americans, Communist Party members, elites in the military and so forth. Membership in the core is a birthright, not something someone attains through work and endeavor. Approximately 28 percent of the North Korean population falls under this category, or about 6 million to 7 million people. Nearly half this number are privileged to live in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea.

The second category is the “base” or “wavering” class. These are descendants of merchants, salesmen, Chinese-Koreans and Japanese-Koreans, draftdodgers and practitioners of superstition for the most part. About 45 percent of the North Korean population falls under this category. This group comprises about 14 million to 15 million North Koreans. They are the laborers and workers who maintain the system for the core to exist and function. 

The third category is the “complex” or “hostile” category. These are descendants of landlords, clergy, anti-party forces, defectors’ family members and so on. Approximately 27 percent of the population falls under this category, or about 6 million people. They are the outcasts who are forced to work in antiquated mines and other hard and hazardous working areas. About 150,000 to 200,000 people from this category reside in concentration camps, analysts estimate.

The government’s system essentially categorizes every resident based on family line to determine how politically risky they may be. Almost every aspect of North Koreans’ lives from profession and education to how much food they receive is determined by their classification. For example, during the famine of the 1990s and other chronic food shortages, the regime cut off food to politically undesirable populations, such as those in the northeast. As much as 30 percent of the people in North Hamgyong province died during the worst famine in the 1990s, according to analysts. A majority, or roughly 60 percent, of North Korean refugees come from this province.

The social system is reinforced with heavy indoctrination. A North Korean child goes to preschool, and the first thing that he or she learns is that the “great” leader Kim Il Sung single-handedly defeated the Japanese and brought freedom to the Korean people. Another popular theme is that all problems stem from the United States and its puppets in South Korea. Moreover, Juche, or self-reliance, is the only path that the Korean people should follow under the leadership of the Kim family.

These methods are supported by a surveillance system and network of spies and informants that make it impossible for anyone to express any doubt in the North Korean political system. Public executions by firing squad, hanging and even burning at the stake are common.

Social vulnerabilities

North Korea is a tough nut to crack, but its rigid social restrictions might be the weakest link — and the most attackable — in North Korea. The North Korean leadership is probably more concerned with the threat of information operations armed with truth about freedom and democracy than any kiloton bomb or even the threat of a nuclear attack.

In negotiations with North Korea, a look into some aspects of the prevailing conventional wisdom might be useful. Hundreds of years of war in Northeast Asia have taught people that there are no morals or honor in war. To cheat, lie, fool and trick the enemy is just another tool in the bag.

When Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) was fighting over control of Japan, Toyotomi Hideyori, the son of Toyotomi Hideyoshi who first united Japan, held Osaka castle, which was thought to be an impregnable fortress. Ieyasu sent an emissary to Hideyori and offered peace. Hideyori, weary of war, accepted, and Ieyasu’s men were allowed to fill in the moat. Ieyasu’s men attacked. Hideyori and his mother committed suicide.

Later, Ieyasu replied to criticism of his betrayal of his word of good faith. Ieyasu said: “Any general foolish enough to trust the word of one’s enemy deserves death.” Ieyasu was the first shogun of Japan, and his family ruled for 260 years.