Kim Jong Un visits ‘model’ city, first public outing in more than a month

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a new city being built near the border with China, which he said epitomises his country’s “iron will” to achieve prosperity in the face of international isolation and pressure, in his first public appearance in more than a month.

Korean Central News Agency said on Tuesday that Kim Jong Un expressed satisfaction during his visit to Samjiyon city over the progress of construction in an area he called the “sacred place of the sun”. KCNA said Kim inspected the third and last phase of construction during his visit to the city.

“Noting that the 4 year-long construction of Samjiyon City proved the irresistible might of the single-minded unity and harmonious whole of the Party and the people and also the iron will of our state to achieve prosperity our own way and with our own efforts, as well as its self-confidence and possibility of independent development, the General Secretary, in the name of the Party Central Committee, sent thanks to the builders, supporters and the people of the whole nation who brilliantly realized the decisions and policies of the Party,” KCNA said.

“He said that the achievements, experience and standards gained through the construction of Samjiyon City serve as correct guidelines for pushing forward our Party’s policy of local construction in the right direction. He added that this has great significance in the on-going struggle for making a new start for the change of local areas,” it added.

Samjiyon city is being changed into a massive economic hub, called a “socialist utopia” by officials, and will have new apartments, hotels, a ski resort and commercial, cultural and medical facilities.

Samjiyon city is near Mount Paektu, the holy mountain where Kim’s family claims its roots, and he has made multiple visits since 2018.

According to KCNA, the construction at Samjiyon city could be finished by the end of this year, when he will complete a decade in rule since taking power following the death of his father in December 2011.

The transformation of Samjiyon into a “model cultured city” was one of the main focuses of a nationwide construction campaign that North Korea wanted to finish in time for the 75th anniversary of its ruling party’s founding in October 2020. However, construction was slowed amid the coronavirus pandemic and international sanctions over Kim’s nuclear weapon and missile programs.

“Claiming the success of Samjiyon’s development is politically important at this time because the Mount Paekdu region is central to North Korean mythology and the embellished story of the previous leader‘s birth,” Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, told the Associated Press.

While KCNA did not give a date for Kim’s visit, it is the first report of public activity by the leader for 35 days, his longest absence since 2014. He last delivered a speech at an arms exhibition on October 11.