Ebook: North Korea on the brink: struggle for survival

North Korea in context -- Drawing the Iron Curtain -- Kim's Korea -- A life in wonderland -- Food, famine, and fugitives -- WMD paranoia rules -- Negotiating its place -- Changing regime or regime change?;North Korea's development and testing of nuclear weapons made headlines in the Western media, but is the country really a threat to the rest of the world? This book examines the country's history and focuses on whether the threat is realistic or exaggerated by the US in order to gain international support for the controversial missile defense system. It also shows what the EU can do to engage with North Korea and counterbalance the US policy of isolationism. North Korea is struggling to survive in the face of US threats of preemptive action and regime change by developing its own Weapons of Mass Destruction. For the EU, the challenge is to resolve this stand-off, providing North Korea with sufficient security guarantees to enable it to give up its nuclear weapons, and assistance to enable the economic and social reforms that the country needs--Publisher's description.