As the new year dawns, the leaders of the two Koreas are worlds apart | NK News
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September 26, 2026Sep 26, 2026

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As the new year dawns, the leaders of the two Koreas are worlds apart

Moon Jae-in remains tied to a failed policy as Kim Jong Un reverts to the hardline style of the past

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The new year began with contrasting signals from Pyongyang and Seoul about prospects for inter-Korean relations in the coming year. 

Kim Jong Un skipped his usual annual New Year’s Speech, with his final report to the Fifth Plenary Meeting of the Seventh Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) taking its place.

In that report, “break through head-on all the barriers to our advance” emerged as the overriding slogan for the new year. Even though Kim Jong Un