Abstract:

North Korea is a nuclear weapon possessor state whose priority goal is regime security. As a state giving importance to nuclear weapons as a supportive element of regime security, North Korea was able to provide regime security before conducting its first nuclear test in 2006. In this study, the elements that ensure the regime security of North Korea are explained through the concepts of Juche, which is the basis of its ideological political culture, and Songun, which is its military policy. The study argues that nuclear capacity is not the key element to ensure North Korea’s regime security yet the secondary element. The most important indicator that the regime can survive without its nuclear capacity is the fact that North Korea has ensured regime security before it has nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, considering the political and ideological system of North Korea, it is seen that nuclear weapons have a great important, complementary and supportive position in regime security.

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