North Korea in 2024: Kim Jong Un’s Multidimensional Strategies for Regime Consolidation Available to Purchase

In 2024, North Korea worked to consolidate Kim Jong Un’s regime across political, economic, military, and social sectors. Politically, Kim emphasized independent leadership by minimizing his predecessors’ legacies and tightening ideological control. Economically, the regime prioritized self-reliance amid shortages and inflation, launching localized development projects. Militarily, it focused on munitions production to support arms supplies to Russia while advancing its nuclear and missile capabilities, declaring 2024 a “golden era for war preparedness.” Socially, propaganda and suppression of South Korean cultural influences were used to counter dissent. In foreign policy, North Korea deepened military cooperation with Russia through arms and technology exchanges formalized in a strategic treaty, though this strained relations with China. Inter-Korean relations deteriorated further, with Pyongyang escalating provocations and officially declaring South Korea a hostile state.