Pyongyang sees little gain in sending a Trump-targeted message, experts say

North Korea’s New Year Assembly meeting in 2025, marking the final year of Kim Jong-un’s five-year development plan introduced in 2021, focused on advancing the economy and strengthening defense capabilities.
However, defying some expectations, the session—which was preannounced in early December to convene on Wednesday, just two days after Trump’s inauguration — notably lacked any remarks or messages from Kim directed toward US President Donald Trump.
North Korea's state-run media reported on Friday that the 12th session of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly — the country’s rubber-stamp unicameral legislature in reality but its highest sovereign body under the constitution — was held at the Mansudae Assembly Hall on Wednesday and Thursday. Notably, state media did not report Kim Jong-un's attendance at the session.
Cabinet premier Pak Thae-song underscored, “Before us lies a meaningful year, marking the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea and the final year of the Five-Year Plan” during the two-day Assembly meeting.
During the Party Congress in January 2021, Kim unveiled a five-year national economic and defense development plan that included an extensive array of advanced weapons to be developed.
“This year presents us with the heavy task of making it a year of remarkable achievements and great transformation by paving the way for an upward phase toward a higher stage of development through bold courage, renewed determination, unwavering passion and full dedication,” Pak said.
Budget prioritizes economic growth and defense development
Echoing the sentiment, Finance Minister Ri Myong-guk also underscored that the primary objective of this year’s national budget was to “successfully complete the Five-Year Plan.”
“The national budget for this year has been allocated to expedite significant transformations in national defense capabilities and to prioritize investments in key sectors of the people's economy, ensuring the full realization of a self-reliant economy,” Ri said during the Assembly sessions.
Ri explained that 44.1 percent of the total budget expenditures has been allocated for “socialist economic construction, including national economic development and improvements in people's livelihoods,” without sharing the amount of the total budget.
North Korea also earmarked 15.7 percent of the total budget expenditures for defense spending for the “continuous and boundless strengthening of North Korea's self-defensive strength," according to Ri. Last year, 15.9 percent of the budget was allocated for defense.
While the total budget remains undisclosed, state media said the total national budget for this year has increased by 3.8 percent compared to last year.
Lim Eul-chul, professor of North Korean studies at Kyungnam University in Seoul, said of the Assembly session, “The key point to note is the little mention of military matters, with the focus instead placed on the economy and livelihoods. ”
Lim also pointed out that the 2025 budget focuses on strengthening national defense capabilities and investing in key economic sectors.
“This indicates North Korea's continued emphasis on aligning its budget with two central pillars: bolstering defense capabilities and advancing economic development and improving people's livelihoods,” Lim said.
Kim Jong-un announced a new economically focused strategic direction in April 2018, ahead of the first US-North Korea summit. However, following the abrupt breakdown of the Hanoi summit in February 2019, he revived his "Byungjin policy," which prioritizes simultaneous economic development and the pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Reasons behind absence of message to Trump
Speculation over whether Kim Jong-un, who has met Trump in person three times, would address him during the Assembly session gained attention at a time when Trump has continued to tout his rapport with Kim.
Trump also expressed his willingness to meet the North Korean leader.
When asked during a Fox News interview on Wednesday, aired Thursday local time, whether he would "reach out" to Kim Jong-un again, Trump responded, "I will, yeah. He liked me."
However, it is not common for Kim to send an external message during an assembly session.
Since coming to power in December 2011, Kim has attended 11 of the 21 reported Assembly sessions, delivering speeches on five occasions. While first-half sessions of the SPA have typically been held in January since 2021 — except for February 2022 — Kim delivered a New Year speech at the SPA for the first time in January 2024.
Notably, in that speech, he ordered South Korea to be designated in the constitution as the North’s “primary foe and invariable principal enemy.”
Experts view North Korea will take a wait-and-see approach to the Trump administration, which was inaugurated on Monday.
“North Korea is expected to respond after assessing how proactively the US is willing to engage with the regime, as well as its intentions and strategic calculations,” said Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the government-funded Korea Institute for National Unification.
The Kim Jong-un regime may redefine its strategy toward the US and convey its message or stance on the Trump administration’s North Korea policy during key party meetings later this year.
“There is a possibility that North Korea will articulate its strategy toward the US during the June plenary session of the Party Central Committee, which traditionally reviews developments from the first half of the year,” Hong said.
Hong continued, “North Korea could unveil more concrete details about its stance on the Trump administration’s North Korea policy” if Kim delivers an address at the Supreme People's Assembly in September, as he has done in previous sessions held in September 2021, 2022, and 2023.
However, Hong added whether such an address takes place depends on the “extent of message exchanges between North Korea and the US” in the lead-up to the Assembly session.
Lim also explained that “it is likely that North Korea has concluded there is little practical benefit in preemptively responding while the specific details of the newly inaugurated second Trump administration's North Korea policy remain unclear.”
“Therefore, it is expected to maintain its confronting strength with strength policy for the time being while advancing its self-defensive nuclear capabilities in a calibrated manner.”