38 North

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38 North is a website devoted to analysis about North Korea. Its name refers to the 38th parallel north which passes through the Korean peninsula and which, until the Korean War, divided North and South Korea. Formerly a program of the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, it is now housed at the Stimson Center and is managed by former U.S. Department of State official Joel S. Wit and Managing Editor Jenny Town. Notable contributors include nuclear scientist Sigfried Hecker, former Associated Press Pyongyang Bureau Chief Jean H. Lee, cybersecurity expert James Andrew Lewis, and North Korea Tech founder Martyn Williams. Source

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Language English
Country United States of America
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Post-Party Congress Elections

| 38 North Verified
This article is from the fourth edition (January – March 2026) of 38 North’s quarterly product, North Korea Briefing, that monitors key internal developments in North Korea. For the full series, click here. (Source: Korean Central News Agency) The first quarter of 2026 saw follow-on events to the Ninth Party Congress.[1] North Korea held national elections for the 15th Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) on March 15, its first parliamentary elections in seven years and two years behind schedule.
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Construction Projects Making Headway as Part of Five-Year Plan

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By Mitsuhiro Mimura
| 38 North Verified
Groundbreaking ceremony at Ragwon County site. (Source: Korean Central News Agency) This article is from the fourth edition (January – March 2026) of 38 North’s quarterly product, North Korea Briefing, that monitors key internal developments in North Korea. For the full series, click here.
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From Party Congress to Supreme People’s Assembly: Kim’s Power Consolidation, Self-Reliance Strategy, and New Five-Year Plan

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By Gyeong Seob Oh
| 38 North Verified
This article is from the fourth edition (January – March 2026) of 38 North’s quarterly product, North Korea Briefing, that monitors key internal developments in North Korea. For the full series, click here. (Source: Korean Central News Agency) In the lead-up to the Ninth Party Congress, Kim Jong Un criticized cadre incompetence across both the industrial and agricultural sectors, reflecting a tendency to deflect blame for the limitations of his self-reliance policy.
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With Little Incentive to Engage the US, North Korea Deepens Russia and China Ties

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By Kibum Han
| 38 North Verified
(Source: Korean Central News Agency) This article is from the fourth edition (January – March 2026) of 38 North’s quarterly product, North Korea Briefing, that monitors key internal developments in North Korea. For the full series, click here.
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North Korea Tests New Theater Launch Platforms as Party Congress Continues Nuclear/Missile Buildup

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By Vann H. Van Diepen
| 38 North Verified
This article is from the fourth edition (January – March 2026) of 38 North’s quarterly product, North Korea Briefing, that monitors key internal developments in North Korea. For the full series, click here. (Source: Korean Central News Agency) The Ninth Party Congress in February committed North Korea to building more nuclear weapons and more existing-type nuclear delivery systems.
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North Korea Briefing: Vol. 4, Spring 2026

| 38 North Verified
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.
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Call for Applications: 38 North Emerging Scholars Fellowship Program 2026-2027

| 38 North Verified
38 NORTH EMERGING SCHOLARS FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM 2026-2027 Application Open: April 13, 2025 Application Deadline: May 13, 2026 6:00 pm US Eastern Time 38 North is a program at the Henry L. Stimson Center, a nonpartisan policy and research organization focused on international security issues, based in Washington, DC. For more than 15 years, 38 North has been an authoritative source of policy and technical analysis regarding North Korea’s internal and external affairs.
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Wang Yi’s Pyongyang Visit: Kim Jong Un Signals Renewed Efforts to Improve Ties but Alignment Still Lacking

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By Rachel Lee
| 38 North Verified
(Source: Korean Central News Agency) Notably, North Korea’s summary report of the Ninth Party Congress made no mention of China or Russia, a contrast to the Eighth Party Congress report in 2021. Kim Jong Un’s recent speech to the parliament stressed the need to “improve and strengthen, from a developmental point of view,” relations with friendly countries “in line with the requirements of the new era,” without specifying those countries either.
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Over Three Decades of North Korea Policy Divide: South Korea Should Give Bipartisanship a Chance

| 38 North Verified
Foreign Affairs, South Korea This article was written and researched as part of the second cohort of 38 North’s Emerging Scholars Fellowship Program, under the mentorship of senior experts on North Korean affairs. The program and series were made possible through generous support by the Henry Luce Foundation. For more papers in this series, click here. South Korea’s approach toward North Korea has long been marked by a lack of policy coherence and durability.
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Sinpho South Shipyard: Unusual Ship Repurposing Effort

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By Peter Makowsky
| 38 North Verified
Recent commercial satellite imagery indicates an ongoing effort to repurpose a coastal cargo ship at the Sinpho South Shipyard, where submarine construction and conversion activities have been the norm.
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38 North Journalists

Silberstein, Benjamin Katzeff
Williams, Martyn