Castles in the air: North Korea's delusional economic "strategy" | NK News
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September 26, 2026Sep 26, 2026

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Castles in the air: North Korea’s delusional economic “strategy”

Juche science, halting reform, and investment from – Russia? You jest

I don’t know Cho Yun-yong. But I’m ever so jealous of her. And I bet every other DPRK watcher is too.

A South Korean journalist based in Japan, Ms. Cho somehow got her hands on Pyongyang gold. Not literally, but meaning one of the many official documents that any normal country would publish – but which North Korea prefers to keep secret.

In May 2016 at the Seventh WPK Congress (the first full Party Congress for 36 years, you’ll recall), Kim Jong Un announceda “five-year strategy for the state economic development from 2016 to 2020.” Naturally, that got attention,