Ken E. Gause

Civil-military relations is one of the most challenging dimensions to deal with regarding North Korea. It is a topic that is difficult-if not impossible-to quantify with any real precision. Yet few subjects are more crucial to understanding that country. After all, since 1998, Pyongyang's foremost policy has been declared as "military-first." While experts debate the precise meaning and significance of this policy, considerable consensus exists that it gives the leading role to the Korean People's Army (KPA)-as all services of the armed forces of North Korea collectively are known. Hence, military leaders in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea are very powerful and influential figures. Who are they? What kind of power and influence do these leaders wield, and how do they exert it? How do KPA leaders interact with dictator Kim Jong Il and their civilian counterparts? Mr. Ken Gause sets out to answer these questions in this monograph.

This much-needed study draws on fresh material and firsthand observation to provide an understanding of North Korea as it exists today. North Korea under Kim Chong-il: Power, Politics, and Prospects for Change delves deeply into what we know—and what we think we know—about the current North Korean system. This incisive book probes the dynamics that inform the nation's domestic and foreign policies, examining key leadership institutions and personalities, as well as prospects for the next regime. In outlining the major events behind Kim Chong-il's assumption of power, Ken E. Gause illuminates the environment that shaped Chong-il's worldview and his concept of the regime and his role in it. The book focuses on regime politics since 1994. Among other critical topics, the book examines the evolution of North Korean decision-making with regard to its internal and external affairs and how both are intermingled. The prospects for a third hereditary succession and the prospective stability of the next regime are also considered.