Kim Jong Un’s New Year’s speech provides the world a starting point for analyzing North Korea in 2014. Unfortunately, it does not appear that dealing with North Korea will get easier.

As we look back at the events that helped to shape 2013, we are also looking back the predictions The Peninsula made in our annual “10 Things to Watch for on the Korean Peninsula in 2013” blog.

On December 26, Japan’s Prime Minister Abe Shinzo visited the Yasukuni Shrine. The visit is unlikely to do much harm to Abe domestically, but foreign policy in the region will be a casualty.

Whether Kim Jong-un is in charge or is in trouble after the purge of Jang Song Taek, both possibilities present problems for the U.S. and its allies, demonstrating once again why North Korea is seen as the land of no good options.

If the rumors and the events surrounding Jang Song Taek’s possible removal from power are true, we should prepare for a North Korea that is more provocative and difficult to handle in 2014.

If Korean companies are able to exceed, or at a minimum match the world-wide average of an engaged workforce, government efforts to foster a creative economy will have a greater chance to succeed.