CEVAP:

Surrounded by powerful countries to its west, south, and east, namely China, South Korea and Japan, and ostracized by the US-led international community for long, Pyongyang feels itself extremely vulnerable to the outside world. The character of its regime and the meager power capabilities at its disposal do not put North Korea in an advantageous position vis-à-vis the outside world. Pursuing an isolationist foreign policy line seems to be informed by the strategic calculation that this is the most effective way of ensuring the survival of the totalitarian and authoritarian regime in Pyongyang