북한의 군사력 증강실태 = An Analysis of North Korea's Military Build-up

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Since Kim Jung-il's regime set out in 1994, international academic community on North Korea has debated the regime instability of North Korea. But in contrast to the consistent pessimistic evaluation, North Korea has consolidated its regime with relative stability, despite its severe famine and downward economic growth. Given the relationship between Kim's regime stability and North Korea's military build-up, this paper analyzes the source of North Korea's regime stability.
One of the most conspicuous changes in North Korea since the mid-1990s is its renewed emphasis on the military build-up. Although it has consistently been inflicted by the economic decline, the North has invested a large sum of money as much as 20% of its GDP in military. This means that North Korea has been depended its regime consolidation on the military build-up and that its ideological basis of foreign relations has also been buttressed by the military.
As we've witnesses during the 1999 naval clash between the North and the South in the Yellow Sea, the North's military equipment and weapons are not in the status as qualified as worth threatening Korea. But the South's superiority in military equipment and weapons does hardly defend itself from the North's suspected military threat. Because the North's most advantages in terms of military operation are simplified decision-making structure and unified policy implementation. Generally, North Korean decision making structure is solely dominated by Kim Jung-il Himself, which relieves itself from public opinion. Thus, the North has a potential capability to outweigh the South in case of regional military conflict, which is highly possible with effective military build-up.
Another function of the North's military build-up comprises making up the gaps in national power between the South and the North. Since the introduction of "e Four Principles of Military Development"n 1962, North Korea has improved its military capability in systemic fashion. Emphasizing the nationalistic quality of sense, the North's leadership has trained and maintained its military in line with Juche ideology. Reviewing "ur Principles of Military Development," the modernization of armament, the fortification of entire territory, the officer-ization of entire forces, and the arming of entire populace, I found that the priority among each category has been shifted in accordance with time and situation. Since it perceives that the major causus belli would be the maintenance of Kim's regime, the North leadership put the modernization of armament as a top priority. Thus that Kim himself seems to focus on military build-up makes very much sens from North Korean perspective.
This paper intends to analyze the implicit role of North Korean military build-up by ways of reviewing materials published both in domestic and international settings between 1962 and 2002. It also refers the direct interviews with North Korean refugees who had served in North Korean military while they were in the North. For supporting my argument, I thoroughly analyzed the military equipment and armament in North Korean army, navy, and air forces as well as its military capability in terms of numbers. It proves that the North's strategists attempt to upgrade its armament for sustaining its military superiority over the South and helping its negotiation with the US to its favor.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Ⅰ. 서 론
• Ⅱ. 지상군 장비
• Ⅲ. 해군장비
• Ⅳ. 공군장비
• Ⅴ. 부대 및 병력
• Ⅵ. 결 론