North Korea's military-first politics

So far North Korea pursued military-first politics.

Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il was shocked when Romania's dictator Ceausescu was overthrown and executed both by the cooperation between the civilians and the military. If the military had not betrayed Ceausescu, he would have never been overthrown. It was shocking to the Kim family because they were and are still trying to maintain the dictatorship.

After this incident, Kim Jong-il has been putting all efforts to keep the military under his control to maintain his power, and adopted a military-first policy. Although because of the military-first policy, North Korea's dictatorship regime became stable, the power of the military became immense. Although the reason for the recent removal of Ri Young-ho, ex-chief of general staff, is believed to be his criticism against Kim Jong-un, but the real essence of the purgery was to weaken the over-sized military so that Kim Jong-un can take effective control.

A power struggle between the military that holds all the money, and Kim Jong-un that is trying to steal it has begun.

Recently, Kim Jong-un has disbanded companies that supplies the military with foreign currencies to reduce the power of the military. It is notable, and we should pay attention to how the military will react. The military will not just sit idle when their life and money is in the line.