North Korea Briefing: Vol. 4, Spring 2026
This volume covers events and developments in North Korea during the first quarter of 2026 (January 1 to March 31) across five issue areas: politics, leadership, the economy, missiles and weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and foreign policy. Each issue area, or chapter, is scoped out as follows:
- Politics: Broader leadership trends, domestic political developments, and shifts in rhetoric on key ideological or domestic policy issues
- Leadership: Roles and functions of Party, government, and military institutions, power dynamics within the leadership, and personnel changes
- Economy: Domestic economic indicators, economic policy, and external economic relations
- Missiles and WMD: Missile, nuclear and other WMD-related activities, key technological advancements, and related policy
- Foreign policy: Positions on key international and foreign policy issues and foreign relations
All chapters use North Korean state media as their primary source, aided by secondary sources such as reporting from third-country media outlets and think tank analyses.
CHAPTER BREAKDOWN
Chapter 1. From Party Congress to Supreme People’s Assembly: Kim’s Power Consolidation, Self-Reliance Strategy, and New Five-Year Plan, by Gyeong Seob Oh
Chapter 2. Post-Party Congress Elections, by Michael Madden
Chapter 3. Construction Projects Making Headway as Part of Five-Year Plan, by Mitsuhiro Mimura
Chapter 4. North Korea Tests New Theater Launch Platforms as Party Congress Continues Nuclear/Missile Buildup, by Vann H. Van Diepen
Chapter 5. With Little Incentive to Engage the US, North Korea Deepens Russia and China Ties, by Kibum Han
Download the full report: North Korea Briefing: January – March 2026