Contrary to the anticipation of anti-Pyongyang propaganda discussed in the previous part of this digest, there have been no direct provocations, including in the area of the disputed maritime border. Instead, the North conducted its own exercise and criticized the enemy’s. Already on the day the exercise began, March 4, a DPRK Ministry of Defense spokesman issued a press statement. “The frantic war drills by the ROK puppets and vassal forces led by the US make…

On February 10, 2024, the Lunar New Year holiday, Yoon Suk-yeol visited the Second Marine Corps Division in Gimpo, inspected the Cheonmoo multiple rocket launcher system, and urged troops to be prepared for any North Korean provocations. “If the enemy provokes, you have to sternly and overwhelmingly respond under the principle of ‘act first, report later’ to completely crush the enemy’s will.”…

It will soon be 10 years since the publication of South Korea’s review of the state of human rights in the DPRK, which, thanks to its uncritical treatment of sources, turned out to be “much ado about not very much”. 10 years later, on February 6, 2024, South Korea’s Ministry for Unification presented what it considered to be a serious report, Perceptions of the Current Socioeconomic Situation in the DPRK, based on the results of an analysis of surveys of 6,531 defectors who left the DPRK between 2013 and 2022…

The session ended, and the idea of peaceful unification was discarded. Even the monument dedicated to it was removed. What did Seoul have to say on the matter? During a cabinet meeting held just hours after Kim Jong-un’s speech was published…

While preparing the material, the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the WPK was held on January 23–24, 2024, where Kim Jong-un’s proposed strategy for the development of local industry began to take shape. The Politburo meeting lasted for two days, which is rather rare. The meeting structure suggests that there was significant conceptualization taking place. The composition of the observers suggests that it was a nationwide planning meeting. The meeting included “members of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee, members, and alternate members of the Political Bureau…

The 10th session of the Fourteenth National People’s Congress of the DPRK, is best known for its radical reversal of the policy on relations between North and South Korean. However, specialists may also find some of the other issues discussed during the session to be of interest. In addition to the foreign policy issues discussed earlier, in his speech, “On the Next Tasks for the Prosperity and Development of the Republic and the Improvement of the People’s Welfare” Kim Jong-un made…

Building on the tensions of early 2024, North Korea began “missile season.” The KCNA reported that on the afternoon of January 14, DPRK’s General Administration of Rocket Science conducted a test launch of a medium-range solid-fuel ballistic missile with a hypersonic maneuverable guided warhead. The successful launch was aimed at “confirming the characteristics of the gliding and maneuvering flight of a hypersonic maneuverable guided warhead of medium-long range and the reliability of the new multi-stage super-powered solid rocket motors,” had no impact on the security…

From December 26 to 30, 2023, Pyongyang hosted the 9th Enlarged Plenum of 8th WPK Central Committee, which summarized the results of the past year and set plans for the future. While much of the country was celebrating the arrival of 2024, the author was analyzing the materials of the plenum, adhering to the principle of ‘how you meet the new year, so you spend it. There were many interesting findings. To begin with, the structure of the plenum has already become part of the tradition…

As reported by the KCNA, the launch was in response to the second meeting of the “nuclear consultative group” which proposed a “large-scale joint exercise to prepare a ‘nuclear counterstrike’ against our Republic.” As we previously reported, at the event, the allies agreed on a plan to include nuclear operation scenarios in the 2024 military exercises, including the Ulchi Freedom Shield summer exercise. Kim Jong-un, his daughter and commanders from the DPRK’s General Department of Missile Engineering attended the drill: at 8:24 a.m…

North Korea’s successful launch of a satellite on November 21 has led to another wave of speculation both about the satellite’s capabilities and about potential military-technological cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang. This is largely due to the syndrome noted more than once, in which anti-Pyongyang propaganda first comes up with certain clichés and then begins to believe in them. The DPRK is seen as an “Evil State” and thus incapable of real success. Any real achievements are therefore dismissed – “the new housing developments were built to distract the population from economic…

The internal politics of the DPRK is a rather closed thing, and quite often we draw conclusions about the processes taking place there and the state of affairs in the administrative system from indirect signs. For example, watching Kim Jong-un during negotiations with Putin or Shoigu, one can see that he turns to the interpreter on purpose and speaks louder and clearer so that the interpreter can better understand his thoughts and convey them to his interlocutor. At the same time, the standard cultural code, which is very noticeable in the Republic of Korea, says that a high-ranking Korean…

The style of North Korean propaganda is peculiar enough that many people cling to it rather than the substance of the messages, preferring to declare them propaganda statements denouncing non-existent enemies. However, over time, what the audience perceived as propaganda fairy tales turned out not to be fairy tales at all. Suffice it to recall the “blowing up statues of leaders by drone” repeatedly quoted by the author. When the North Koreans first announced the disclosure of such plans, most people marvelled at their absurdity: blowing up statues of leaders with drones sent from China…