Global Scans · Kim Jong-Un · Weekly Summary

• ISW-CDOT has assessed that Workers' Party of Korea General Secretary Kim Jong Un will likely expand North Korea's naval base and shipbuilding infrastructure to support a larger surface fleet. American Enterprise Institute - AEI
• North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, warned last week that Pyongyang would adopt additional military options in response to what she called Japan's transformation into a military power, after Tokyo test-fired a U.S.-made Tomahawk cruise missile. Global Banking & Finance Review
• Worker's Party of Korea General Secretary Kim Jong Un is further consolidating his power by punishing high-ranking officials and warning remaining cadres against corrupt activities. American Enterprise Institute - AEI
• Regionally, Kim Jong Un is courting Beijing while keeping Moscow central, and Japan-South Korea defence cooperation is advancing only as fast as South Korean domestic politics will allow. Fault Lines
• A solid-propellant ICBM is one of the key high-tech weapons that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to build to better cope with what he calls U.S. military threats. The Hill
• North Korea said that it will no longer seek reunification and reconciliation with South Korea as leader Kim Jong Un declared that his country vows to place three new military spy satellites into orbit in 2024. WION
• An acceleration of North Korea's nuclear weapons program as part of a new Cold War with the U.S. has been viewed by some, including Western leaders, as an unrealistic threat that has perhaps emboldened North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to be more aggressive. Newsweek
• North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un said earlier this week that its first military spy satellite will be launched at an unspecified date. The Week
• North Korea has opened its most important political event, where leader Kim Jong Un is expected to map out his domestic and foreign policy agenda for the next five years and further entrench his family's authoritarian rule. WRAL
• Even in 2023, one U.S. intelligence assessment has been that Kim Jong Un would continue to be a bellicose neighbour for South Korea and an unpleasant member of the global community - but was unlikely to actually wage nuclear war at least through 2030. EL PAIS English
• North Korean leader Kim Jong-un wants to pressure the United States into accepting North Korea as a legitimate nuclear power and hopes to negotiate an easing of sanctions from a position of strength. AP News
• A green-water fleet could allow North Korea to more aggressively contest the Northern Limit Line, the de facto inter-Korean maritime boundary in the Yellow Sea that Kim Jong Un has described as illicit and lawless. American Enterprise Institute - AEI
• New satellite images show what could be North Korea's largest ship ship - possibly more than double the size of any ship in the leader Kim Jong Un naval fleet. World Stock Market

Last updated: 13 September 2026