North Korean leadership activity in January 2016 unsurprisingly included significant attention to the country’s fourth nuclear test, conducted on January 6. In addition to the focus on the nuclear test (which constituted the majority of military and political events) the regime leadership continued its public emphasis on economic development. Together, the interest in nuclear and economic affairs form the regime's Byungjin Line – the policy of simultaneous nuclear and economic development – believed to be supplanting the Songun (Military-First) policy of Kim Jong Il’s reign.

KIM’S ACTIVITY IN JANUARY