Pyongyang will struggle with reforms

Significance Despite recent high-profile foreign policy developments, the meeting focused on domestic matters. Kim admitted economic “difficulties” and promised to address regional inequalities by boosting local industries. He is increasingly promoting his personality cult while charting a course distinct from his father and grandfather. Impacts A new SPA may be ‘elected’ before it is next convened, as the current one is out of time. One touchstone of Kim’s cult will be how far and fast badges portraying him replace, or supplement, those of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. Kim’s topmost aides will not view ideological lectures as a substitute for reform; neither will Beijing.