This report, published by the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University, notes, “North Korea has chosen technology as a national priority and refocused its budget through the principle of ‘focus and choice.’ Furthermore, it seems to be pursuing technological development by simultaneously renewing its existing industries and establishing a foundation for high technology.”

Peter Hayes, Nautilus Institute Executive Director, writes “The DPRK can now take two paths. It can do nothing for a while, try to obtain the typical late year delivery of food aid from the ROK before winter hits, and hope to muddle through. Or, it can test and hope to adapt its economy in magnificent, nuclear-armed isolation, waiting for the world to adjustto the new strategic reality of North Koreas existence as a nuclear weapons state.”

Embrace Tiger, Retreat To Mountain, Test Nuke Embrace Tiger, Retreat To Mountain, Test Nuke POLICY FORUM ONLINE 06-60A July 21st, 2006 “Embrace Tiger, Retreat To Mountain, Test Nuke” By Peter Hayes CONTENTS I. Introduction II. Essay by Peter Hayes III. Poem to the NDC Chairman: Kim Jong Il published in Pyongyang by the Rodong Sinmun […]

Paul Carroll, Program Officer at the Ploughshares Fund, was one of three Americans present in the DPRK during the July 4th missile launches. He contributes this insightful trip report on what he saw there. One particularly interesting remark he notes was a statement by DPRK Vice Minister Kim Gae Gwan who made what seemed to be a reference to the DPRK-PRC relationship, “with respect to our missile launch, I am awaiting responses from other parties. What I hear is Big Brothers saying to Little Brother ‘don’t do that’ but we are not a little boy, we have nuclear weapons.”

John J. Tkacik, Jr., Senior Research Fellow in China Policy in the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation, writes, “It is now incumbent upon the Bush Administration to face facts– Without Chinese interest in disarming North Korea, much less moderating any of Pyongyang’s other odious behavior, there is no solution to the North Korean problem.”