When North Korean state media reported that the Workers Party’s convened a plenary meeting of its 8th Central Committee on December 27, it signaled that Kim Jong Un might not deliver a New Year’s Day address this year. Sure enough, state media instead reported on the results of the five-day plenum in place of a grand speech on January 1. The first time Kim replaced his New Year’s Address with a readout of a Party Plenum in the final days of the previous year was in 2020 when he ordered his people to “tighten our [sic] belts” to “defeat imperialism.” Last year, Kim skipped his New Year’s Day address, and in its place, state media delivered a report of his 8th Workers’ Party Congress, which was held from January 5 to 7.

There now seems to be a pattern developing of North Korean leaders forgoing new year’s messages, apparently indicating harsh times or a reflection of a decisive moment for the future of the regime, as seen in 1957, 1987, 2020, and 2021.

The latest year-end Party Plenum assessed and praised the first of a five-year plan that Kim Jong Un unveiled at his 8th Party Congress in January 2021. That was when Kim reiterated his top priority of economic recovery (from a triple crisis of international sanctions, flood damage, and the coronavirus pandemic) and disclosed an ambitious wish list of modern, strategic weapons. Those weapons include tactical nuclear weapons, missiles capable of carrying multiple warheads, military reconnaissance satellites, and “hypersonic gliding flight warheads in a short period.”