ABSTRACT
Any analysis of events in North Korea shows the importance of external factors in influencing (and changing) Pyongyang's security thinking in the late 1980s and in shaping its decision to launch a secret military nuclear program. This chapter begins with an analysis of the impact on North Korea of the Soviet Union's adoption of perestroika (or "new thinking") in foreign policy. It then examines Chinese influence, South Korean behavior, U.S. policy in Korea, and, finally, changes in Japanese attitudes, all of which helped trigger North Korea's interest in acquiring nuclear weapons. This study draws on Russian scholarly and governmental sources, as well as on official statements and policy pronouncements by North Korean leaders appearing in the North Korean press.
