Description
Existing scholarship on North Korea's nuclear ambitions generally attributes its nuclear program to a desire in deterring military external threats (especially vis-à-vis the U.S.). However, seldom have academics looked beyond this framework to consider additional meanings that the North Korean leadership attributes to its "treasured sword". This study adopts a constructivist approach based on the assessment of state identity by exploring the nexus between North Korea’s nationalist ideology and its nuclear program and how the resulting nuclear identity has become intrinsic to the North Korean regime, serving as the preferable means to achieve broader military, political and economic objectives, both in domestic and external affairs. By applying qualitative content analysis on North Korean state media, particularly reports from the Korean Central News Agency during the latest nuclear crisis (2017-2018), this paper traces the evolution of North Korea’s nuclear path and analyses it through the lens of its state ideology. It not only showcases an international perspective by exploring how the country's nuclear identity has shaped contradicting relations with the U.S., but also China and South Korea, but also how it has served as a means to stimulate support and legitimacy for the nuclear program and the Kim regime domestically. This study is relevant in terms of the existing policy debate regarding North Korea and its nuclear status, but also serves as an important call for considering more studies focusing on the impact or influence of domestic issues in understanding North Korea and the country's foreign policy, in the nuclear sphere.
