Andrei Lankov on P'yŏngyang

"They are not madmen or ideological zealots, but remarkably efficient and cold-minded, perhaps the most perfect Machiavellians of the modern world" — Why Pyongyang clings to its weapons. The nuclear weapons program serves as a "powerful strategic deterrent" and "blackmail tool" but also "has domestic importance," about which the author writes:

Pyongyang's propaganda now insists that the suffering and destitution of the past 15 years were a necessary sacrifice, voluntarily made by selfless North Koreans to safeguard their country and nation against enemies (above all, the "blood-thirsty Yankees" who dream about wiping out the entire Korean race). Surrender of the nuclear weapons would render this suffering and death meaningless.

Other salient points include the author's insistence that "no military action against North Korea is thinkable" and that the "strategy of economic sanctions.... is not likely to work in North Korea" and their "only result would be the suffering and death of common people."