North Korea’s foreign ministry held an urgent briefing for senior officials after the United States extended its national emergency declaration over North Korea for another year.
A source in Pyongyang told Daily NK on Thursday that North Korea’s Cabinet-level foreign ministry summoned key officials to its headquarters on June 30. The session was an urgent briefing, organized in direct response to Washington’s decision to extend the national emergency, the source said. The U.S. order cites North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
The briefing drew on a wider range of international affairs material than previous sessions, the source said. Officials were reportedly handed down three party principles for external survival in response to the U.S. move.
The first principle calls for fully institutionalizing a military alliance with Russia without compromise. The source said the party center instructed foreign affairs officials to treat the North Korea-Russia treaty as a survival tool against U.S. sanctions and pressure. The pact is a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty signed by the two countries in 2024. Officials were told to secure maximum military and economic benefit from all-around cooperation with Russia under this principle.
The second principle calls for drawing clear lines with China while carefully managing tension in the relationship. North Korea-China strategic cooperation has strengthened recently following a visit by Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Amid that shift, the ministry made clear that North Korea should pursue economic benefits from Beijing while rejecting any ideological compromise, according to the source.
The third principle calls for using external tensions as leverage for internal control. It specifically targets ideological laxity among younger North Koreans. The source said officials were told to take the lead in tightening ideological surveillance. That effort is tied to enhanced monitoring already underway for July’s month-long anti-imperialist, anti-U.S. struggle campaign, an annual internal propaganda and surveillance drive.
Study sessions ordered after briefing
Immediately after the briefing, the foreign ministry reportedly ordered all staff to complete study sessions on responding to the external situation by mid-July.
“With the briefing called so abruptly and the ministry’s orders coming down hard on officials, there was a heavy sense of tension among them,” the source said. “It reflected just how serious the situation had become.”
The source added that officials privately described the U.S. decision as an admission that Pyongyang has “no room to breathe except through Russia for now.” Many officials are said to be feeling pressure over how narrow North Korea’s diplomatic options may become in the second half of the year.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed the one-year extension on June 22. In the notice, he said the existence and risk of proliferation of weapons-usable nuclear material on the Korean Peninsula, along with the North Korean government’s actions and policies, continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to U.S. national security, foreign policy and the economy.
The national emergency over North Korea was first declared in June 2008 under President George W. Bush. It has been renewed annually since.
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July 16, 2026 at 02:43PM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)