North Korea and the World: Palestine-North Korea Relations and Kim Jong Un's Grand Strategy

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f36tm5FBVGA

Park Won-gon, Director of the EAI Center for North Korean Studies and Professor at Ewha Womans University, explains that the North Korean regime is attempting to project its own position onto the Middle East situation to build an anti-US bloc internationally and neutralize the UN Security Council. Regarding the criticism that North Korea points out the 'double standard' of the United States, which imposes strong sanctions on North Korea for developing nuclear weapons within the scope of not harming the international community for the sake of strengthening its 'right to self-defense,' while not raising issues with Israel, which has been oppressing the Palestinian people for a long time and threatening the Middle East order by provoking wars, Park explains that this is an effort to strengthen anti-US rhetoric and justify its own nuclear development.

■ Park Won-gon_Director of the EAI Center for North Korean Studies. Professor of North Korean Studies at Ewha Womans University.

■ Managed and Edited by: Park Ji-soo, EAI Researcher

    Inquiries: 02 2277 1683 (ext. 208) | jspark@eai.or.kr

Video Transcript

What's interesting here is that North Korea claims to be exercising its legitimate right to self-defense without causing any harm to its neighbors, while questioning why the US doesn't raise issues regarding Israel's right to self-defense, which clearly causes harm. They are utilizing this narrative to project their own position onto the Middle East issue and build an international anti-US bloc. Welcome, viewers of North Korea and the World. Thank you once again for watching. Today, I need to discuss the Middle East situation and its relationship with North Korea. The various events unfolding in the Middle East are judged to be very serious issues. Given the long history of animosity, it is difficult to expect a resolution in the short term, and I am concerned about the extensive damage occurring. The international community's attention is also focused on these events. However, I will analyze and explain North Korea's stance on the current Middle East issues, its perspective, and the intentions behind that perspective. First, I would like to mention that North Korea has finally

begun to express its position on the conflict between Israel and Hamas. It is now Friday, October 27th, around 5 PM, and I will focus on North Korea's statements made up to this point. It is possible that new positions may emerge by next week when this broadcast airs, but I must reconfirm that I will be focusing on the positions announced as of the 27th. Thus far, North Korea has issued three official statements. The first statement was released on July 24th through the Korean Central News Agency. The very next day, the 24th, a statement was issued through the North Korean Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Organizations Department Director, Tamala. Subsequently, on October 27th, a statement was released through the response of the spokesperson of the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A total of three statements have been issued. Synthesizing these, North Korea tends to interpret serious international issues by projecting its own position. While North Korea has consistently maintained this approach regarding the Ukraine war,

this pattern is clearly evident once again. Firstly, they are clearly highlighting US responsibility. Specifically, North Korea emphasizes what is known as a double standard. Their argument is that Israel's actions are highly inhumane and anti-humanitarian. They contend that the attack on Gaza and the prior oppression of Palestinians are Israel's problems. North Korea criticizes that the international community, without acknowledging the suffering and pain of the Palestinians, unconditionally sides with Israel, asserting that Israel is right. This is what is known as a double standard. They argue that the US is not looking at the situation fairly and is only siding with Israel. These expressions are clearly present in North Korea's statements.

The term "arrogant and double-standard" was actually used in Kim Yo Jong's party statement in September 2021. At that time, Kim Yo Jong stated that the US employs an illogical double standard, portraying US actions as legitimate actions supporting peace, while depicting North Korean actions as threatening peace. To elaborate, North Korea claims that its continuous development of nuclear missiles is part of its normal defense capability enhancement, in accordance with the five-year plan for national defense development announced at the 8th Party Congress in 2021. However, they argue that it is a double standard for the US to raise no issues with the development of weapons by the US or South Korea, while deeming North Korea's weapon development, conducted under the right to self-defense, as illegal. As you well know, this is not a double standard.

This is because North Korea's weapons development, particularly its development of ballistic missiles, is explicitly defined as illegal by UN Security Council resolutions. This is because North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles as delivery systems makes any utilization of that technology illegal. Therefore, what North Korea is doing is not a double standard but an illegal act in accordance with international law. This is confirmed once again. Secondly, through the current Middle East situation, North Korea is attempting to neutralize the Security Council. From North Korea's perspective, the UN Security Council is a highly inconvenient entity. This is because numerous resolutions passed by the UN Security Council render North Korea's nuclear program illegal and impose sanctions on its nuclear development. Therefore, for North Korea to gain de facto recognition of its nuclear status, the neutralization of the UN Security Council is crucial. Thus, over the past two years, whenever any resolution concerning North Korea is proposed at the UN Security Council, North Korea has responded immediately and pointedly, raising issues regarding the Security Council's

impartiality. This same argument is being reiterated in the current situation. Specifically, North Korea repeats its assertion that the fact that a resolution proposed by Russia at the Security Council was not passed is proof of the Council's powerlessness. Thirdly, they express solidarity with Palestine and criticize Israel. While this is, of course, their basic stance, subtle changes in their position have become apparent over the past few days. Initially, they were somewhat hesitant to directly criticize Israel, linking their criticism of Israel to the actions of the United States, suggesting that the US employs a double standard in Israel's conduct. However, more recently, they have begun to clearly identify Israel as the subject of criticism. Their position has been gradually shifting. In fact, they are adopting a stance similar to China's. China initially maintained a somewhat neutral position between Israel and Palestine, but has now completely shifted to supporting Palestine and criticizing Israel, which also includes criticism of the United States. North Korea, like China, is showing a slight change in its position. In essence, they are supporting Palestine, arguing that the US is not providing the assistance that Palestine rightfully deserves. This is precisely stated. The Palestinian people's aspirations remain unfulfilled, and the historical injustice they suffer persists, and North Korea attributes this to the United States. Following the bombing of a hospital in Gaza, they have clearly identified Israel as the perpetrator, stating that Israel has committed heinous anti-humanitarian crimes. Direct criticism of Israel has begun.

Another interesting phenomenon is observed here. In a statement released on October 24th, North Korea publicized a congratulatory message sent by the leader of Fatah on October 11th, the 78th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea. The message states: "We value your position of supporting the legitimate struggle of our people to defend freedom and independence between our two countries." This signifies that North Korea is emphasizing its support for the Palestinian people and their cause. What is interesting is that this message was received on October 10th but was only publicized on the 24th. This suggests that North Korea is strategically utilizing the issue of Palestine and Israel to further its political objective of supporting Palestine. Lastly, the fourth point: they emphasize the right to self-defense.

What is interesting here is that North Korea speaks of its own right to self-defense. North Korea claims to be exercising its legitimate right to self-defense, yet the US describes it as a threat to international peace and security. North Korea argues that its exercise of the right to self-defense causes no harm to its neighbors, while questioning why the US does not raise issues regarding Israel's exercise of the right to self-defense, which clearly causes harm. When North Korea speaks of its right to self-defense and claims it causes no harm, it is referring to its nuclear development. In other words, they are using the Middle East issue to project their own position and justify their nuclear development. Overall, North Korea's intentions are relatively clear. By explicitly siding with Palestine, North Korea's primary objective, more importantly, is to criticize the US and contribute to building an anti-US bloc in the international community. North Korea believes that China and North Korea, along with Russia, have been critical of the US from the outset, and thus seeks to link them into a single bloc. They aim to use the conflict between Israel and Palestine as a case that can represent their own position and further strengthen it.

The vision of a bloc that North Korea envisions is being fully reflected in this conflict. We need to observe how this situation will unfold. Specifically, we need to see how North Korea will continue to react and at what level it will escalate this issue. It is particularly important to consider how North Korea will exploit the situation where the US, in its support for Israel, may provide relatively less support to Ukraine, and its attention to other regional issues may be reduced. We need to assess the extent to which North Korea will leverage this.

We need to observe how this situation will unfold. Specifically, we need to see how North Korea will continue to react and at what level it will escalate this issue. It is particularly important to consider how North Korea will exploit the situation where the US, in its support for Israel, may provide relatively less support to Ukraine, and its attention to other regional issues may be reduced. We need to assess the extent to which North Korea will leverage this.