This text is from the fifth version (April–June 2026) of 38 North’s quarterly product, North Korea Briefing, that screens key inner developments in North Korea. For the total collection, click on right here.
Whereas UN Safety Council sanctions proceed to constrain North Korea’s exterior financial choices, Pyongyang is searching for progress by mobilizing home assets. Two developments within the second quarter of 2026 illustrate this strategy: a rising emphasis on solar energy as a sensible power supply and the promotion of exemplary enterprises that showcase efficient administration and technical innovation. Collectively, they recommend that North Korea is searching for to strengthen its financial system by prioritizing science and know-how, environment friendly use of home assets, and improved enterprise administration.
North Korea Eyes Photo voltaic Energy
Within the second quarter of 2026, North Korea continued to advertise “solar energy [태양빛발전]” as a viable power supply, highlighting the nation’s efforts to generate extra energy.
An article within the authorities every day Minju Joson mentioned the financial benefits of mixing solar energy with hydropower.[1] It launched overseas researchers’ concept of putting in floating photo voltaic panels on hydropower reservoirs as such programs might improve electrical energy manufacturing, scale back water evaporation, enhance the effectivity of water use, and decrease infrastructure prices through the use of present transmission services. This text introduced solar energy as a know-how that would complement different types of renewable power.
On Could 1, state media reported on the completion ceremony of a brand new solar energy station in Haeju, South Hwanghae Province.[2] They described the power as a brand new “materials and technical basis” for regional financial growth and the development of the individuals’s dwelling circumstances. It additionally linked the undertaking on to the Social gathering’s coverage of accelerating electrical energy manufacturing by renewable power. Later that very same month, whereas reporting on solar energy stations being constructed in several provinces, KCNA reported that the Haeju solar energy station’s capability stood at 10,000kW (10MW).
A number of weeks after its inaugural ceremony, the Social gathering every day Rodong Sinmun’s article emphasised the financial advantages of the brand new Haeju solar energy station.[3] It highlighted using high-efficiency bifacial photo voltaic panels, connection to the nationwide energy grid, lowered transmission losses, decrease administration prices, and automatic real-time management. The article additionally said that the station’s electrical energy was being provided to native industrial factories and households, thereby contributing to regional growth and the individuals’s livelihoods.
Context and Implications
The 2026 articles illustrate a broader shift: solar energy is more and more framed as a concrete technique of supporting regional growth, bettering electrical energy provide, decreasing prices, and implementing the Social gathering’s renewable power coverage.
The Secret Behind the “High 10 Excellent Enterprises”
In April, Rodong Sinmun introduced the 2025 “High 10 Excellent Enterprises.”[4] The annual choice started in 2023, when enterprises had been first acknowledged for his or her 2022 efficiency.
Context and Implications
Three of this 12 months’s 10 winners benefit specific consideration. North Korean media painting the Sangwon Cement Advanced, beforehand chosen in 2022, not merely as a cement producer however as a strategic industrial base supporting main state building initiatives—together with Pyongyang housing building and the 20×10 coverage for regional growth—and as a Social gathering-trusted mannequin enterprise for administration, manufacturing, and nationwide productiveness campaigns. The Pyongyang Hosiery Manufacturing facility, chosen for a second consecutive 12 months, is likewise introduced not merely as a sock producer however as a mannequin mild business enterprise exemplifying improved shopper items, high quality management, technical innovation, and efficient enterprise administration.
The third is the Rason Hyesong Complete Growth Station, one in all solely two enterprises to have appeared on the “high 10 excellent enterprises” listing for 3 consecutive years. Initially engaged in commissioned processing commerce in Rason, North Korea’s oldest particular financial zone, it has since expanded into actual property and different sectors and is acknowledged for its experience in automation and facility administration. Its repeated choice, regardless of sanctions-induced constraints on China-North Korea border commerce, means that Rason continues to retain financial significance.
The opposite three-time honoree is the Tanchon Smeltery, which appeared on the listing from 2022 to 2024. This facility focuses on processing zinc and uncommon earth components, that are key to North Korea’s financial system. A Rodong Sinmun article in 2025 praised the smeltery for its efficient implementation of the “socialist enterprise accountability administration system (SERMS),” which grants state enterprises larger operational autonomy.[5]
Taken collectively, these enterprises embody the Social gathering’s financial priorities: strengthening home manufacturing by elevating productiveness and product high quality by science and know-how, selling enterprises that exemplify efficient administration practices, and bettering dwelling requirements by building, mild business, and regional financial growth. As such, intently monitoring media protection of those enterprises supplies a helpful window into the Social gathering’s coverage course.
