Description:
In Red Rogue, Bruce Bechtol analyzes the changing nature of North Korea’s national defense, foreign policy, and illicit economic activities in the post–9/11 era. He describes how North Korea has adapted to a changing global and regional environment to ensure regime survival and has often dictated the agenda in East Asia. Bechtol explains why North Korea frequently resorts to brinkmanship and provocations as foreign policy tools and why North Korea remains a threat to the United States and South Korea.
After a detailed discussion of North Korea’s internal politics and foreign policy, Red Rogue examines the diverging U.S. and South Korean assessments of security on the peninsula, the health of the rapidly changing South Korea–U.S. alliance, and the badly deteriorated South Korean civil-military relationship. Using a framework that focuses on diplomatic, informational, military, and economic instruments of national power, the author reveals the dynamic and complicated challenges for security and stability on the Korean Peninsula. The reader will gain a clear perspective of the paradigm shifts in U.S., South Korean, and North Korean policies in recent years. The book is essential reading for scholars, policymakers, military strategists, and anyone who has an interest in East Asian affairs.
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Reviews/Endorsements:
"Bruce Bechtol's Red Rogue provides an objective, well-argued, and balanced discussion that is well-documented."
-- Parameters, Spring 2009
“Dr. Bruce Bechtol’s concise yet thorough Red Rogue presents the essentials necessary to understanding the complex relationships involving Kim Chong-Il’s North Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (ROK). Red Rogue is essential reading for all military officers, planners and policy makers serving in the Korean Theater….Readers with an interest in military and political dynamics on the Korean peninsula will greatly benefit from [Bechtol’s] expertise…Should become required reading for those assigned to work Korean issues.”
-- Naval Law Review, Volume 56, 2008
"Red Rogue is an important book. [It] provides a much-needed window into the thinking that prevails among more hawkish analysis in the United States and South Korea. Skeptical treatments like Red Rogue go a long way toward explaining why the United States has yet to bury the hatchet with its longest-running adversary."
-- Pacific Affairs, Summer 2008
"The text undoubtedly constitutes an indispensable document for all those academics, students and international politics practitioners interested in North Korea. Its detailed and exhaustive analysis of the issues addressed…make it essential reading."
-- RUSI Journal, February 2008
“Bruce Bechtol’s Red Rogue is a comprehensive yet succinct look at post–9/11 North Korea. Brilliantly researched and articulated, Bechtol’s newest book reminds U.S. decision makers—now almost exclusively focused on Iraq, Afghanistan, and al Qaeda—why ‘evil’ is a term associated with Kim Jong-il’s ‘rogue’ regime. A must read for policymakers, academics, intelligence analysts, and others interested in Northeast Asian political, economic, and security affairs.”
-- Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Russell D. Howard, director of the Jebsen Center for Counter-Terrorism Studies, The Fletcher School, Tufts University
“A wise man once counseled, ‘United States policy must deal with the North Korean government as it is, not as we might wish it to be.’ For anyone who seeks to understand the North Korean regime as it is, Bruce Bechtol’s Red Rogue is an excellent place to start."
-- Richard Bush, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution
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