Editor’s note: This is the first article in a two-part series on North Korea predictions for 2024. The second part can be read here.

In 2023, North Korea once again demonstrated its ability to surprise.

After years of pandemic isolation, the country suddenly flung open its doors for delegations from Russia and China. Leader Kim Jong Un left the country for the first time in years to meet with Vladimir Putin. And the DPRK started shuttering embassies around the world in a major shakeup of its foreign policy approach.

Few, if any, of these