Stability vital for Peninsula

The death of Kim Jong-il and changes in the leadership of some Northeast Asian countries in 2011 added to the uncertainties on the Korean Peninsula. But till now, the Peninsula has remained stable.

To consolidate his leadership and emphasize his adherence to the "military first" policy, new Democratic People's Republic of Korea leader Kim Jong-un has interacted frequently with the military and launched a satellite in April despite rising international pressure not to do so. The DPRK has also indicated that reforms and opening-up are not on its priority list at least now.

But the DPRK's new leadership has been paying greater attention to economic development and improvement of people's livelihood. For example, Kim Jong-un went on inspection tours of the military before May. After that his focus has shifted to factories and enterprises, amusement parks and facilities related to people's livelihood.