ADRN

In place of his annual New Year’s speech, Kim Jong Un presented thereport, "On Social Construction and the Internal and External Policies of the Government of the Republic at the Present Stage" at the Fifth Plenary Meeting of the 7th Central Committee of the Worker’s Party of Korea (WPK) in December 2019. The report specifically emphasizes North Korea’s internal and external difficulties, as well as its determination to overcome economic sanctions and evolve into a socialist powerhouse. As part of its head-on breakthrough strategy, North Korea has proclaimed that it will soon present a "new strategic weapon" and commit to developing its self-reliance in dealing with its domestic and international challenges. In this paper, Young-Sun Ha, chairman of EAI and professor emeritus of Seoul National University, argues that North Korea’s old ways of pursuing a head-on breakthrough are not enough for overcoming the country’s present challenges. For example, presenting security threats to the US through continued nuclear development will only tighten sanctions, thereby endangering the regime’s security rather than ensuring it. The author suggests that North Korea’s true head-on breakthrough will be to speed down the path of denuclearization and economic opening-up. Within this framework of a new head-on breakthrough strategy, South Korea’s role would be to cooperate with the international environment and help pave the way for the North Korean regime to develop domestic capabilities until it is stable enough to run on its own.