Defense Planning and Readiness of North Korea
Armed to Rule
Routledge Advances in Korean Studies Series

How has North Korea developed and managed its military readiness to achieve its strategic ends?

Hinata-Yamaguchi analyzes North Korea?s defense planning by looking at how political, economic, and societal factors affect the Korean People?s Army?s (KPA) readiness and strategies. He answers four key questions: How have the internal and external factors shaped North Korea?s security strategy? How do the political, economic, societal, and environmental factors impact North Korea?s defense planning? What are North Korea?s defense planning dilemmas and how do they impact the KPA?s readiness? What are the key implications for regional security and the strategies against North Korea?

This analysis, drawing on various Korean, English, Japanese, and Chinese sources on North Korea and military affairs, will be of great value to strategists and policy analysts as well as scholars of East Asian security issues.

1. Introduction 2. The Strategic Mindset 3. Command and Control 4. Economic and Industrial Capacity 5. The Defense Planning Framework 6. The State of Readiness 7. Understanding the Threat

Ryo Hinata-Yamaguchi is an Adjunct Fellow at the Pacific Forum, a Visiting Professor at the Pusan National University, and a Project Assistant Professor at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo.