The number of public activities of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and three key officials soared in recent months following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, a report showed Wednesday.
They participated in 54 public activities in the three-month period ending in February, up 50 percent from an average of 36 recorded for the December-February period from 2020 to 2023, according to the report by the state-run Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU).
The three key officials are Premier Kim Tok-hun; Choe Ryong-hae, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly; and Jo Yong-won, secretary for organizational affairs in the ruling Workers’ Party.
The report said the sharp rise appears to be largely affected by the situation where the COVID-19 pandemic has been brought under control.
In the cited period, Kim Jong-un particiapted in 31 public activities, up 31 percent from the three-year average of 23.7, with most of them focused on the military and economic fields.
The North’s lea
der supervised launches of missiles and visited munitions factories in the December-February period, when the repressive regime ramped up provocative acts, such as the test-firing of cruise missiles from land and sea in January.
At a year-end party meeting, Kim defined inter-Korean relations as those “between two states hostile to each other” and called for preparations to “suppress” the South Korean territory in the event of war.
Meanwhile, the number of public appearances by Premier Kim jumped 77 percent to 13 in the recent three months, as he focused on visiting provincial areas to boost the sagging regional economy, the report said.
Choe carried out eight public activities, mostly related to diplomacy, in the cited period, up 85 percent from the last three years. Jo, viewed as a key aide to the North’s leader, made two cases of public activities, compared with the three-year average of 0.7.
“Kim Jong-un is expected to bolster military-related public activities in the March-May period, when military te
nsions on the Korean Peninsula will likely increase,” the report said.
Choe’s public activities could also increase, given that foreign diplomats and others are expected to return to North Korea years after they were forced to withdraw from the North due to the North’s COVID-19 border shutdown, it noted.
Source: Yonhap News Agency