What threatens North Korean leader Kim Jong-un?

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is very shrewd and is taking logical, necessary steps to maintain the regime's survival.

That's the assessment in an article for Foreign Policy magazine by Professor Andrei Lankov of Seoul National University, an expert on North Korean studies.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Photo: Novorossia Today

Professor Lankov assessed: "North Korea's behavior may seem unusual from the outside, but in reality, Kim's regime is making logical moves necessary for survival."

In the West, it is often thought that leader Kim Jong-un is insane for threatening the US with nuclear war, executing generals, and spending enormous sums of money on nuclear weapons development in the context of a struggling economy. However, author Andrei Lankov describes Kim as an "uncompromising rationalist," whose goal is to prevent his family from losing power.

Professor Lankov points out three key threats that Kim Jong-un faces.

First, there is the potential for attack from abroad. A harsh lesson for North Korea is Libya, which in 2003 abandoned its nuclear program believing in the promised benefits of the West, but it all ended in war and the humiliating corpse of its leader Gaddafi.

The second threat is the risk of a military coup at home. Kim Jong-un has every reason to believe that the generals are plotting against him. This is linked to large-scale purges, as well as the death at Kuala Lumpur International Airport of North Korean citizen “Kim Chol”.

The threat of a nationwide uprising is the third major concern for the North Korean leader. A stagnant economy is a serious problem facing the country.

Therefore, North Korea's measures are risky, but "risky" does not mean "irrational," author Andrei Lankov concludes.

According to Kienthuc.net.vn