#135 Dave Maxwell on North Korea and Influence Operations

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

During this episode, Dave Maxwell discusses the importance of human rights upfront, influence campaigns, the pursuit of a free and unified Korea, resting on a foundation of deterrence and defense in the context of countering North Korea.

Research Questions: Dave suggests technologies be developed which help Western governments access and penetrate North Korea. Also, he believes the potential succession in North Korea is an important research area, as well as mapping out the entire human terrain of key personalities and communicators. He also asks: how can we use defectors and escapees to help with the above research projects and bridge the North and the South. Finally, Dave thinks these “big 5” questions related to North Korea are important:

1. What do we want to achieve in Korea?
2. What is the acceptable durable political arrangement that will protect, serve, and advance US and ROK/US Alliance interests on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia?
3. Who does Kim fear more: The US or the Korean people in the north? (Note it is the Korean people armed with information knowledge of life in South Korea)
4. Do we believe that Kim Jong-un has abandoned the seven decades old strategy of subversion, coercion-extortion (blackmail diplomacy), and use of force to achieve unification dominated by the Guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State in order to ensure the survival of the mafia like crime family cult known as Kim family regime?
5. In support of that strategy do we believe that Kim Jong-un has abandoned the objective to split the ROK/US Alliance and get US forces off the peninsula?  Has KJU given up his divide to conquer strategy - divide the alliance to conquer the ROK?

Resources:

• Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned
  • #99 Roger Carstens on Hostage Negotiations & Diplomacy
• National Strategy for Countering North Korea by Robert Joseph, Robert Collins, Joseph DeTrani, Nicholas Eberstadt, Olivia Enos, David Maxwell, and Greg Scarlatoiu
• Otto Warmbier
• Unified Republic of Korea
• Marked For Life: Songbun: The North Korean Social Classification System by Robert Collins
• Army of the Indoctrinated: The Suryong, the Soldier, and Information in the KPA by George Hutchinson
• Becoming Kim Jong-un: A Former CIA Officer’s Insights into North Korea’s Enigmatic Young Dictator by Dr. Jung H. Pak
• See IPA’s website at the link below for many other book and online resource suggestions related to North Korea

Link to full show notes and resources

https://information-professionals.org/episode/cognitive-crucible-episode-135

Guest Bio: David Maxwell is a retired US Army Special Forces Colonel and has spent more than 30 years in Asia as a practitioner and specializes in North Korea and East Asia Security Affairs and irregular, unconventional, and political warfare. He is the Editor of Small Wars Journal. He is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Senior Fellow at the Global Peace Foundation (where he focuses on a free and unified Korea), and a Senior Advisor to the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy.

About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.

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