In 2016, promoting its status as a nuclear state, North Korea continued with its provocations by conducting the fourth nuclear test, which was followed by test launches of a long-range missile, submarine-launched ballistic missile, and short and medium-range missiles. Just eight months after the fourth nuclear test in September of the same year, on the anniversary of the founding of the communist regime, North Korea pushed ahead with the fifth nuclear test. North Korea is bolstering its combat readiness posture by expanding its arsenal of 300mm multiple rocket launchers and anti-tank guided weapons while also continuing with test flights of drones, GPS signal jamming, and cyber-attacks. To steer out of its chronic economic crises, North Korea has been implementing the so-called “New Economic Management Improvement Measures”23) since Kim Jong-un’s assumption of power. While the stated goal is to improve the living standards of North Korean people under the policy of combining economic growth with the development of nuclear weapons and the “People First” policy, no real progress has been seen in this area as vast financial resources were expended in large-scale projects such as the nuclear program and the Masik Pass Ski Resort that are aimed at the self-aggrandizement of the Kim Jong-un regime. The living conditions of the North Korean people have in fact worsened due to the frequent labor mobilization for campaigns like the “70-day battle and the 200-day battle.”24) Amid the heightening sanctions and pressure from the international community, defection of senior-level officials has increased since the mass-defection of China-based North Korean restaurant workers in April 2016. In an attempt to stymie the wave of defection, North Korea is currently taking measures to strengthen the internal cohesion of the regime by stepping up the ideological education and surveillance by public security forces. | Inter-Korean Policy | To gain the upper hand in inter-Korean relations and force changes to the ROK government’s North Korea policy, North Korea is employing the dual-track tactics of provocation and dialogue. On February 12, 2013, North Korea carried out its third nuclear test and on April 8 temporarily suspended the operation of the Kaesong Industrial Complex. However, observing how the hard-line approach failed to yield the expected benefits due to the widespread anti-North Korea sentiment in the international community and Seoul’s consistent North Korea policy, North Korea agreed to resume the operation of the Kaesong Complex on August 14, after seven rounds of working-level talks. On August 23, during an inter-Korean working-level Red Cross meeting, the North agreed to reunions of the separated families. However, on September 23) a new economic policy implemented since 2012, whose core concept is to increase the autonomy and incentives of individual economic actors such as cooperative farms and cooperative factories. 24) a speed-battle slogan used as a rallying cry for the mobilization of civilian labor. 22 Chapter 1 Changes and Challenges in the Security environment