The meeting marked Kim’s third public appearance since April.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a meeting of the Political Bureau of the 7th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, North Korea’s ruling party, over the weekend. According to the Korean Central News Agency, North Korea’s outward-facing state media agency, Kim presided over the meeting, which “discussed in depth some crucial issues arising in further developing the self-sufficient economy of the country and improving the standard of people’s living.” The KCNA readout of the Politburo’s meeting suggested that the fate of the country’s chemical industry and the living standards for the residents of Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, were at the top of the agenda. Kim has devoted some attention to the chemical industry alongside domestic power generation in recent years.
