North Korea’s Siege Mentality: A Sociopolitical Analysis of the Kim Jong-un Regime’s Foreign Policies

North Korea’s siege mentality is deeply rooted in negative experiences with out-groups in history. This worldview dominates its society and is the foundation of its mistrust toward the outside world. It has also become a crucial instrument for stable governance, social cohesion, and the regime’s allocation of resources. However, in foreign affairs, negative or aggressive attitudes toward other nations are not beneficial for international cooperation and are more likely to intensify North Korea’s isolation. Since a siege mentality is not an unchangeable disposition, its maintenance depends on deliberate reproduction by political, cultural, and educational mechanisms. The international community should assist North Korea to establish new ideas on threats, convey accurate information about out-groups, and reinterpret its views of the outside world.