ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the major changes in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) party and government institutions during 1984–1986. In late 1983, the DPRK adopted a number of measures aimed at countering the economic and diplomatic reversals of the early 1980s. The conservative nature of DPRK policy during 1984–1986 was evident in its foreign relations, and in particular in the revitalisation of its relations with the Soviet Union. The DPRK leadership during the period 1983–1986 amounted to minor adjustments within the Korean Workers' Party (KWP) Politburo and largely routine changes in the Party Secretariat and Administrative Council. The rapprochement with the Soviet Union was a major step and this was a singularly unfortunate decision for the DPRK, for it led Pyongyang to attach itself to a system which was about to enter terminal decline.
