Kim Jong Un ushered in a “hopeful” 2025 by attending a New Year’s concert in Pyongyang, though he did not use the event to signal North Korea’s policy direction for the coming year.

Describing last year as “a year of great transformation” and “unprecedented progress,” the state-owned Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the art performance at May Day Stadium signaled the start of a “watershed for steady success and progress” in 2025.

After a year marked by the rejection of inter-Korean unification and criticismof former leaders’ economic policies, the agency hailed the “unprecedented” rejuvenation and called for “new