ABSTRACT
This chapter will discuss the major developments in the economic policy field that have taken place since Kim Jong Un came to power in December 2011, with the objective of demonstrating the way in which the North Korean state places economic policies in the context of the system’s overall legitimizing narrative. The analysis is based on the government’s public references to economic policy through Kim Jong Un’s New Year Addresses and annual Supreme People’s Assembly reports and charts the evolution from the military-first (son’gun) policy of his father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il, to a greater emphasis on the parallel development of the economy and of nuclear weapons, known as byungjin.
