RUSI JournalVOLUME 170ISSUE 3

Crafting a Multipolar World: Pyongyang's Evolving Narratives

Kim Jong Un welcoming Vladimir Putin during his state visit in June 2024, when the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty was signed. Courtesy of Kremlin.ru/Wikimedia Commons

Kim Jong Un welcoming Vladimir Putin during his state visit in June 2024, when the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty was signed. Courtesy of Kremlin.ru/Wikimedia Commons


North Korean strategic narratives increasingly use the concept of multipolarity to promote Pyongyang’s aims.

States employ strategic narratives as a means to enhance their interests, and North Korea is no exception. In Pyongyang’s recent strategic narratives, Sang Hun Seok finds that the concept of multipolarity has become more prominent and endorsed. Although not an entirely new concept, it forms the conceptual foundation of Pyongyang’s narratives, and its importance has been elevated beyond a mere descriptor of the current environment to an ideal objective, particularly alongside the deepening of Russia–North Korea relations. Although such narratives may not accurately reflect reality, liberal democracies must strengthen both practical and narrative efforts to uphold a liberal international order.

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WRITTEN BY

Sang Hun Seok

Indo-Pacific Visiting Fellow

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