| Amid the confrontation of the East and the West, it was only natural for the Democratic People's Republic Of Korea after its founding, to adopt a strategy of joining the group of the socialist countries as opposed to western capitalist countries represented by the USA. However, the rise of the "independence consciousness" within the Workers Party of North Korea laid a political foundation for North Korea to pursue an independent foreign policy away from external influence. North Korea strived to develop its relations with such countries as the USA, Japan and South Korea with a view to expanding its scope of diplomacy and create a benign international environment and this had led to some promising results. After the end of the cold war, North Korea' s external conditions for its existence had deteriorated due to the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the drastic changes in Eastern Europe and the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea, and this had necessitated the fundamental adjustment of North Korea' s foreign strategy. It had come to realize that it was not possible to sustain a regime on an economic base which was on the verge of collapse. In the long run, to maintain the security and stability of the regime and of the state, it was essential to rely on the revival of its economy, which in turn was in need of a positive external environment. As a result, North Korea decided to make strive in its foreign activities, improve its relations with western countries, especially the USA, so as to break the economy sanctions and blockage of western countries, and further gain economic aids from the international community and seek guarantee of national security from its biggest threat — the USA. From then on, North Korea had engaged in frequent contact with the USA, Japan and other western countries with whom it had not established diplomatic relations, with a purpose to realize the normalization of diplomatic relations with these countries and break away from the state of isolation. In the two nuclear crises, North Korea had been able to make compromise with the USA by adopting flexible measures and in this way achieved a win-win situation diplomatically and economically. Presently, North Korea is still beset by the nuclear crisis of the Korean Peninsula and faced with enormous pressure from the USA. Therefore, the goal of North Korea' s foreign strategy will not undergo drastic changes in the short term. It will focus its foreign strategy on two aspects: mitigate outside pressure that threatens its very existence so as to safeguard its regime and pursue economic gains. Since North Korea has not set up normal diplomatic relations with the USA and Japan, in the years to come it will be its top priority to improve its relations with the USA, normalize its diplomatic relations with Japan, enhance North-South relations, strengthen its ability to handle internal matters and remove external interference. In addition, North Korea will attach greater importance to its relations with China and Russia, with a view to maintaining the relative balance of power in the Korea Peninsula of major strategic entities from the Asia-Pacific region. This article makes an overall evaluation of North Korea' s foreign activities in the 60 years after the Second World War, so as to make a sketch of the formation and... |
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