Thesis (Ph. D.)--Johns Hopkins University, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 786-812).

My thesis film for the Master of Fine Arts degree is an 18-minute documentary entitled Free North Korea Radio. This report is an account of the filmmaking process from the initial idea through the finished film. / text

This thesis investigates the events leading up to and following the first North Korean nuclear test, which took place in 2006, in order to examine first, whether the test helped the North Korean regime survive, and second, how this unilateral action acted as a balance to the United States’ policy of oppression. The thesis will also attempt to shed some light on the validity of the Western International Relations (IR) theories by ascertaining the balance of threat and applying the notion of “two-level games” to the nuclear conundrum. Through the lens of these IR theories, the research described in the thesis addresses three smaller questions: (1) how did the nuclear test stabilize Pyongyang’s integrity as a balance to the threat of a potential American military attack?; (2) how was the test used as a bargaining mechanism to urge the Bush administration to shift away from its hostile stance and towards a policy of engagement?; and (3) how did the test influence the security environment of the Northeast Asian region? Finally, the thesis considers various reasons why the nuclear deadlock in which we currently find ourselves will not be resolved in the foreseeable future, and it suggests that resolution of the nuclear stalemate can only occur once comprehensive deal-making incentives between Washington and Pyongyang are adopted. / Graduate / 0615 / lomulos@yahoo.co.kr

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Albany, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 143-151).

This paper uses theoretical frameworks from Critical Discourse Analysis to analyze articles from a South Korean English-print newspaper (the Korea Times), one humanitarian group's website (Liberty in North Korea), and an article in The Economist as examples of the two major discursive styles of representation(s) of North Korea and its people. In mapping the two major representations of North Korea and its people: 1) as "defectors" and 2) as "refugees," I examine the discursive themes employed in each of the three texts. I conclude by describing some of the implications of a discourse of defection and suggest that for future interactions with North Korea to be mutually fruitful, major English media sources must re-examine the terminology used and how it charges North Koreans with a political incentive that belies the underlying reasons for their displacement. Alternative representations and conceptions of North Korea should look to its people in order to see how they are representing themselves. In addition, international diplomacy and news media should learn about the history of relations between North and South Korea since the end of the Korean War in order to develop a culturally contextual representation of North Korea.

The first three chapters of this dissertation critique the findings and recommendations of the February 2014 report of the United Nations Human Rights Council Commission of Inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, North Korea). They contend the report is grounded in hyperreal representational practices and functions as an instrument of securitization. It thereby reifies the asymmetrical state of war that is a root cause of DPRK human rights violations. These three chapters then function as a vehicle for the final two chapters that locate the primary origins of the Western understanding of North Korea within American/Western liberal ideology. North Korea’s ideological position makes appropriate the framing of DPRK human rights violations as extraordinary by contrast to other comparable countries. The Introduction asserts the relevance of the asymmetrical conflict between the DPRK and its adversaries and introduces the theories of Thierry Balzacq, Pierre Bourdieu, and Jean Baudrillard. Chapter One critiques the selectivity and methodology of the report, particularly the de-temporalization, de-localization and extrapolation of allegations as representative of the experiences of ordinary North Koreans. Chapter Two demonstrates the indeterminacy and hyperreal representational practices of the report’s findings of extraordinary crimes against humanity against hostile, starving and ‘abducted’ populations. Chapter Three challenges the lack of DPRK objectivity in the report’s presentation of historical and geopolitical context, particularly the neglect of the consequences of the asymmetrical state of war. Chapter Four introduces the philosophy of Slavoj Žižek and asserts its relevance to identifying North Korea as an abjected, gendered and racialized fantasy-space of American/Western liberalism (objet petit a). Chapter Five considers the consequences of ideology for empirical critique and DPRK agency, advocating unconditional normalization and investment as the most ethical American DPRK policy. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / The first three chapters of this dissertation critique the findings and recommendations of the February 2014 report of the United Nations Human Rights Council Commission of Inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, North Korea). They contend the report is grounded in hyperreal representational practices and functions as an instrument of securitization. It thereby reifies the asymmetrical state of war that is a root cause of DPRK human rights violations. These three chapters then function as a vehicle for the final two chapters that locate the primary origins of the Western understanding of North Korea within American/Western liberal ideology. North Korea’s ideological position makes appropriate the framing of DPRK human rights violations as extraordinary by contrast to other comparable countries.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Washington State University, May 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 198-217).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--American University, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 232-251).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Northeastern University, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 355-372).