Four ideas from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s New Year’s speech

In 2017, Kim Jong Un's rapid-fire missile tests brought him to the brink with President Donald Trump and 2018 saw his sudden rise on the world stage with hints of detente, summits with China and South Korea and an unprecedented meeting with Trump in Singapore.

The 4 big ideas from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s New Year’s speech

Looking almost banker-like in a business suit and sitting in an upholstered leather armchair, Kim Jong Un gave his annual televised New Year’s address on Tuesday.

The North Korean leader’s big curtain-raiser for 2019 comes after a couple of very tumultuous years. In 2017, his rapid-fire missile tests brought him to the brink with President Donald Trump and 2018 saw his sudden rise on the world stage with hints of detente, summits with China and South Korea and an unprecedented meeting with Trump in Singapore.

What’s ahead in 2019? Here are four big takeaways.

1. IT’S STILL ABOUT THE ECONOMY

About two-thirds of the entire speech was devoted to the economy. Kim last year jettisoned his signature slogan of “simultaneous tracks” _ developing nuclear weapons and the economy at the same time in favor of claiming to focus everything on the economy, which is now the national buzz phrase.