Kim Jong-un tours economic sites in Samjiyon County

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at a potato flour factory in Samjiyon County as pictured in the Apr. 4 edition of the Rodong Sinmun. (KCNA/Yonhap News)

N. Korean leader emphasizes economic self-sufficiency while resisting US pressure

While visiting economic sites in Samjiyon County, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called on workers to “display our economic potential” while combatting “hostile forces that are attempting to block our future.” Kim’s visit is thought to reconfirm his strategic focus on the economy leading up to the first plenum of the 14th Supreme People’ Assembly, on Apr. 11.

Kim’s visit to Samjiyon County was covered on pages 1-2 of the Apr. 4 edition of the Rodong Sinmun, which said that Kim had provided “on-the-spot guidance” at a construction site in the Eupji District, a potato flour factory, a blueberry drink factory and a junior middle school.

“Our construction workers have made a lot of progress despite the cold weather in the northern region. Prospects are good,” Kim was quoted as saying while touring a construction site in the county.

“The construction work in Samjiyon County needs to be completed by the 75th anniversary of the party’s establishment [Oct. 10, 2020] so that the county can be turned into an upland hub of modern civilization, the most prosperous county in our land.”

“The improvement projects in Samjiyon represent a fierce class and political struggle with hostile forces that are attempting to block our future,” Kim said. “Our triumph in construction projects in Samjiyon County displays our country’s power and economic potential.”

“While you gaze with a huge smile at the thousands of tons of potato flour stacked high as a mountain at the factory, you must work for the benefit of everyone in the country,” Kim was quoted as saying by the Rodong Sinmun.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at a construction site in Samjiyon County as pictured in the Apr. 4 edition of the Rodong Sinmun. (KCNA/Yonhap News)

It’s widely thought that Kim’s speeches reflect his determination to maintain his economic focus and overcome difficulties by striving for self-sufficiency while also resisting pressure from the US after the two countries’ Hanoi summit ended without an agreement.

The two public appearances that Kim has made since Hanoi – casting his vote for delegates in the Supreme People’s Assembly at Kim Chaek University of Technology on Mar. 10 and attending the 5th meeting of company commanders and political commissars in the North Korean military from Mar. 25 to 26 – were previously scheduled political events, while his visit to Samjiyon County sends a different message, given its optional nature.

Rodong Sinmun coverage indicates that Kim has provided on-the-spot guidance in Samjiyon County, which is called the “sacred land of the revolution,” on four occasions over the past year (July 10, 2018; Aug. 19, 2018; Oct. 30, 2018; and Apr. 4, 2019).

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at a potato flour factory in Samjiyon County as pictured in the Apr. 4 edition of the Rodong Sinmun. (KCNA/Yonhap News)

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer

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