In 2024, North Korea redefined its relationship with the wider world, kicking off the year by rejecting reunification with the South and ending it with over 11,000 soldiers deployed to the battlefields of the Ukraine war.

A whole lot else happened in between, from a propaganda song going viral on TikTok and DPRK athletes competing in the Paris Olympics to a high-profile summit in Pyongyang that elevated Russia-North Korea ties to a de facto military alliance.