Semantics alert: Some political scientists may argue that states cannot be said to be engaging in terrorism against residents within their own borders, since they define terrorism as the unlawful use of violence to achieve political ends, and established states get to set their own laws. As such, they hold that only non-stare actors can engage in actual terrorism. They would argue that North Korea is not a terrorist state, despite the extreme violence or the threat of it otherwise against their own people, because the state is operating legally as defined within their own laws.