North Korea betrayed its long-standing tension between asserting control over the economy and encouraging growth through new laws introduced at the Supreme People’s Assembly this week, as leader Kim Jong Un projected confidence in the country’s economic direction.

The latest session of the DPRK’s rubber-stamp parliament over the weekend passed two laws, one on the management of grain and another on intellectual property rights. The former is indicative of a turn in recent years toward greater state control, while the latter points to growing corporatization and moves to continue and deepen economic reforms.[/p