Introduction
On October 13th, the Biden administration confirmed that "North Korea had delivered more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions to Russia" (The Associated Press, 2023). Analysts believe that Pyongyang received food, energy, and technology in exchange for the munitions (Choe, 2023). Putin is the latest and most prominent in a series of pariahs that North Korea–officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)–has supplied munitions to (Choe, 2023).
For Putin, the DPRK’s stockpile of millions of artillery shells that “are based off Soviet designs” and “are used by Russia” is becoming increasingly valuable as defense production struggles to keep up with the army’s consumption of 20,000 shells per day in Ukraine (Choe, 2023; Kube, 2022). Concerningly, Russian desperation grants the DPRK leverage to demand advanced military and missile technology.
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), should closely monitor these developments. DPRK military advancements prolong the oppression of North Koreans and intensify the decades-long arms race on the peninsula, heightening the risks of a second Korean War. Since the renewal of conflict will likely spark a humanitarian crisis, the ROK should prepare for the worst-case scenario by augmenting its military capabilities to include humanitarian missions, in addition to conventional defense.
The State of the DPRK
Kim Jong-un’s government is an oppressive totalitarian regime–contrasting sharply with the ROK. Freedom House, a leading democracy analysis organization, ranks the DPRK as the third least democratic country in the world with a score of 3/100 on their Freedom in the World Report (Freedom House, 2023). The organization reports that Kim’s regime “regularly engages in grave human rights abuses” (Freedom House, 2023). Since the COVID-19 pandemic, during which Kim refused Western vaccines and sealed off trade, around 60% of the population has remained food insecure and at least 40% are malnourished (ACAPS, 2023). This humanitarian crisis has been ongoing since the mid-1990s when Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un’s father, grossly mismanaged the economy and brought about a famine that killed 3-5% of the population (Ryall, 2023; Noland, 2022).
Unfortunately, in the 21 years since the Axis of Evil speech, Bush’s assessment that “North Korea is a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving its citizens” has only grown more true (Bush, 2002). That Kim can continue to commit human rights violations against North Koreans demands a shift in ROK-U.S. policy.
Current ROK-U.S. Strategy on the DPRK
Following the 1953 ceasefire, the international community generally ignored the so-called Hermit Kingdom of the DPRK. That changed in the early 1990s when Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program, made urgent by the loss of Soviet protection, gained significant attention (Columbia Law School KLS). Since then, the DPRK, the ROK, and the U.S. have engaged in a series of proposals and counterproposals to denuclearize the Korean peninsula. However, the heart of the ROK’s policy is to deter DPRK aggression with overwhelming displays of force. An example is the ROK-U.S. joint military exercises, which are central to the alliance’s military cooperation and are designed to simulate a second Korean War (USFK, 2023). By merely focusing on deterrence, tensions between the ROK-U.S. alliance and the DPRK have remained high, giving Kim justification to develop nuclear weapons. Instead, the ROK should align its actions with its stated goal and genuinely prioritize humanitarian efforts.
What is Military Humanitarianism?
Humanitarianism is “a systemic response to crisis” that addresses “the needs of people affected by conflict, natural disaster, epidemic and famine” (PHAP). Since humanitarian missions operate in unstable environments, the military is an attractive partner because they have well-established communications networks and a large pool of disciplined personnel (PBS, 1989). Communications networks are critical to coordinating large movements of people and supplies, which is why, for example, the Ukrainian military accepts Elon Musk's interference in what targets they can strike in exchange for access to SpaceX's Starlink network (Copp, 2023). Another valuable resource militaries offer to humanitarian missions is “vast, disciplined and generally self-supporting manpower” that officials can draw upon to establish order in crisis zones (PBS, 1989). Because of these advantages, militaries often serve as the backbone of humanitarian missions–the U.S. is a key example of this. However, the ROK’s humanitarian infrastructure is separate from its military. It is far too limited in capabilities to effectively provide both security and aid to the DPRK’s population of 25 million people spread across 46,000 square miles in the event of another Korean war.
Why Military Humanitarianism?
The United Nations reports that there are currently 10 million people suffering from food insecurity in the DPRK (United Nations, 2020). In the event of regime collapse or a renewed conflict on the Korean peninsula, millions more will likely need humanitarian assistance. In case the DPRK acquiesces to greater humanitarian aid, the regime collapses, or another conflict erupts, the ROK, as Koreans, has an obligation to prepare for the unprecedented humanitarian mission. To this end, the ROK military should include humanitarian assistance in the training regimen for all active-duty personnel.
Critics might argue that introducing humanitarian training takes time away from combat training, reducing the effectiveness of the ROK’s military. However, this concern only holds weight when assuming military parity between the DPRK and the ROK. Aside from firepower, the ROK enjoys significant advantages in technology, industry, and the reliability of its core alliances. Moreover, adding humanitarian training will not take away significant amounts of time for combat training. The U.S. Peace Corps, for example, dispatches volunteers to countries in need for 27 months, but pre-service training typically only spans 10 to 12 weeks (Peace Corps). Additionally, among the Peace Corps' five training components–technical, language, intercultural competence, health, and safety–only technical training needs to be integrated into the ROK's training program, as the others are already addressed in basic training or become redundant due to the shared language and cultural elements between the ROK and DPRK.
Additionally, analysts believe that the DPRK's military is degrading (Kim, 2020). While Russian technology transfers will slow the decay, evidence suggests Kim is leveraging his newfound influence to improve his surveillance satellite program over conventional forces (Kim and Park, 2023). The DPRK’s aging, Soviet-era weapons systems have a qualitative disadvantage in ground, naval, and air forces compared to the ROK (Kim, 2020). Military strength rankings, an imperfect rough guide, corroborate this view of ROK superiority (Global Firepower, 2023). Overall, it is undeniable that the ROK-U.S. alliance possesses significantly more capabilities than the DPRK. Knowing this, marginal improvements in ROK military capabilities will not scare the DPRK into submission since the ROK already has a more capable fighting force.
Ultimately, the ROK should explicitly include humanitarianism in its military training because without mission-specific training, soldiers could harm civilians. Currently, the closest thing to humanitarian training for ROK forces is a few first aid classes during boot camp. While ROK soldiers are disciplined, they are not trained to deal with refugees. Soldiers not given this training “can inadvertently create their own sets of problems” such as violent treatment of civilians (PBS, 1989). A notable example of this is the horrible track record of UN Peacekeepers with sexual assault (Wheeler, 2020). This record, however, has improved after “more training and troop vetting ahead of deployment” (Wheeler, 2020). Thus, without proper training, ROK military personnel can become liabilities, and the military loses its functionality as an institution that can supply large numbers of highly disciplined personnel to guide humanitarian missions.
Conclusion
The Korean War created a massive humanitarian crisis. Around three million civilians were killed, roughly 10% of the population at the time, and hundreds of thousands had to relocate (Kim, 2017). Since the ceasefire, the population of the two Koreas has increased by approximately 250%. Considering the massive population growth, it is reasonable to assume that a resumption of the conflict or the collapse of the Kim regime will produce a significantly larger humanitarian crisis than before. The ROK and the US’s current strategy to deter DPRK aggression through military strength resembles Secretary of State Dulles’s “massive response” policy, which does not account for the millions of North Koreans enduring oppression and food insecurity. Since the ROK is both highly interested and conveniently located to support the well-being of DPRK citizens in the event of another conflict, it should add humanitarian assistance training so that its military is capable of executing large-scale humanitarian missions.
The views expressed in this publication are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the position of The Rice Journal of Public Policy, its staff, or its Editorial Board.
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