A short note on Strategic vs Tactical North Korean Rhetoric

With recent increase in North Korean rhetoric and today's North Korean live fire exercise that rattled the nerves of the South Korean military and increased tensions between the two countries, we thought it might be worth a while to discuss very quickly the differences of the North Korean rhetoric that is designed for strategic and for tactical purposes.

North Korea uses varying levels of rhetoric depending on its objectives. Overall, rhetoric issued by higher levels of governmental body tend to be strategic whereas lower level government body pronouncements tend to be tactical.

• Strategic Rhetoric: Tends to address larger issues, often framed as the regime's initiative in order to achieve diplomatic and political progress. It is typically designed to hint and provide justification for the regime's foreign policy priorities. Contrast to the tactical rhetoric, strategic rhetoric is almost always carried by domestically oriented media outlets.

• Tactical Rhetoric: Tends to be more inflammatory, often framed as responses to events external to the country. They have been used in the past to strengthen the regime's negotiating position ahead of bilateral or multilateral negotiations. Tactical rhetoric is also typically carried by the externally oriented media outlets, and they are designed to give the regime with maneuver room to either turn-up or -down the rhetoric as situations dictate.