| ID | 165875 |
| Title Proper | Cheap talk, costly talk, crazy talk: patterns in North Korea’s English language propaganda |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Richey, Mason |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | This article examines the patterns in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (North Korea’s) use of hostile rhetoric in its internationally-directed messaging. The article first places North Korea’s belligerent rhetoric in the context of that country’s capacity to threaten the US and its Northeast Asian allies; indeed many analysts worry that Pyongyang’s rhetoric represents a conflict escalation risk or even a casus belli. Following this, the article discusses the common explanations – irrationality/incompetence, lack of audience costs, inter alia – for why the North Korean regime employs such hostile rhetoric, and finds these explanations wrong or misleading. The main analysis section describes the results of a study of 10 years of English-language propaganda published by the KCNA (North Korea’s state news agency). A multiple regression model is used to test the relationship between North Korea’s hostile rhetoric and a set of independent variables. The statistical tests indicate a mixed correlation of North Korean rhetoric to the independent variables. One major finding is that there is no correlation between hostile North Korean rhetoric and the country’s kinetic provocations. The conclusion discusses the role that North Korea’s rhetoric plays within the country’s larger adversarial relationship to the US, South Korea, and Japan. |
| `In' analytical Note | Pacific Review Vol. 32, No.4; Jul 2019: p.537-571 |
| Journal Source | Pacific Review Vol: 32 No 4 |
| Key Words | Security ; North Korea ; Audience Costs ; Propaganda ; Political Rhetoric |