Includes bibliographical references and index.

North Korea and the United States have been officially at war for over 70 years, one of the longest lasting and most unbalanced conflicts in world history, in which a small East Asian state has held its own against a Western superpower for over three generations. With the Western world increasingly pivoting its attention towards Northeast Asia, and the region likely to play a more central role in the global economy, North Korea's importance as a strategically located country, potential economic powerhouse and major opponent of Western regional hegemony will only grow over the coming decades. This work is the first fully comprehensive study of the ongoing war between the two parties, and covers the history of the conflict from the first American clashes with Korea's nationalist movement in 1945 and imposition of its military rule over southern Korea to North Korea's nuclear deterrence program and ongoing tensions with the U.S. today. The nature of the antagonism between the two states, one profoundly influenced by both decolonisation and wartime memory, and the other uncompromising in its attempts to globally impose its leadership and ideology, is covered in detail. Northern Korea is one of very few inhabited parts of the world never to have been placed under Western rule, and its fiercely nationalist identity as a deeply Confucian civilization state has made it considerably more difficult to tackle than almost any other American adversary. This work elucidates the conflicting ideologies and the discordant designs for the Korean nation which have fueled the war, and explores emerging fields of conflict which have become increasingly central in recent years such as economic and information warfare. Prevailing trends in the conflict and its global implications, including the multiple wars that have been waged by proxy, are also examined in detail. An in-depth assessment of the past provides context key to understanding the future trajectories this relationship could take, and how a continuing shift in global order away from Western unipolarity is likely to influence its future.

INTRODUCTION -- Part One THE KOREAN WAR -- Chapter 1 THE BEGINNING -- Chapter 2 STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE KOREAN WAR'S OUTBREAK -- Chapter 3 THE KOREAN WAR -- Chapter 4 THE BATTLEFIELD MOVES TO NORTH KOREA--AND CHINA -- Chapter 5 ABSOLUTE DESTRUCTION: -- Chapter 6 AS IF ALL KOREANS WERE THE ENEMY: -- Chapter 7 AN INDELIBLE IMPRESSION: -- Chapter 8 ENDING THE WAR: -- Part Two THE COLD WAR YEARS -- Chapter 9 WAR IN PEACETIME: -- Chapter 10 PROXY WARS: -- Chapter 11 THE U.S. MILITARY IN SOUTH KOREA -- Part Three STATE SURVIVAL IN THE UNIPOLAR ERA -- Chapter 12 THE 1990s: -- Chapter 13 THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY AND RENEWED "MAXIMUM PRESSURE" -- Chapter 14 INTRODUCING MUTUAL VULNERABILITY: -- Chapter 15 2017--DONALD TRUMP AND THE BRINK OF CRISIS -- Chapter 16 NORTH KOREA WINS? -- Chapter 17 THE ART OF THE DEAL -- Part Four NEW BATTLEFRONTS AND THE EVOLVING NATURE OF CONFLICT -- Chapter 18 A CLASH OF IDEOLOGIES: -- Chapter 19 INFORMATION WAR: -- Chapter 20 ECONOMIC WARFARE -- Appendices MAJOR INCIDENTS IN THE 2010s -- APPENDIX I THE KIM JONG NAM ASSASSINATION -- APPENDIX II DEATH OF AN AMERICAN STUDENT -- APPENDIX III STORMING THE NORTH KOREAN EMBASSY -- INDEX.

Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on March 10, 2021).

WorldCat record variable field(s) change: 050