Explaining the 2010 North Korean Shelling of Yeonpyeong Island

Abstract

The Yeonpyeong Incident was an artillery engagement between the North Korean military and South Korean forces stationed on Yeonpyeong Island. After the dispute, North Korea claimed that the strike was in reaction to South Korea firing artillery shells into its territorial waters. However, this paper demonstrates through a careful content analysis of North Korean news that despite North Koreas claim that this action was in self-defense, this attack was both premeditated and strategically planned. This paper argues that the Yeonpyeong Island incident is related to the Kim regimes fight for legitimacy, resulting from the insecurity that the North Korean regime faced after Kim Jung Ils severe stroke in 2008 and Kim Jung Uns uncertain succession. This attack was the result of an active North Korean campaign to boost the legitimacy of the Kim regime to ensure Kim Jung Ils legacy could be passed on to his son, Kim Jung Un. This paper concludes that the Yeonpeyong Island incident was not merely a reaction to the expansion of annual ROK-US military exercises in 2010, but was used in North Korean propaganda to boost domestic perception of regime legitimacy. Ultimately, North Korea chose to use violence and carried out its threat against the ROK in a calculated manner to ensure the successful succession of Kim Jung Un.