SEOUL (KOREA) – In North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s latest visit to areas damaged by recent typhoons, he thoroughly took a look into the recovery efforts in a flooded village. On the other hand, his sister reappeared in public for the first time in about two months, state media said on Friday.
Kim lauded the speed in which reconstruction work in Kimhwa County has been going on, during the visit with Kim Yo Jong, KCNA reported. While talking about the storms and other natural disasters, he said, “This year has been one of unprecedentedly hardships.”
The younger Kim, considered the de facto second in command, in her early 30s, has been having a prominent public role in politics.
While praising the recovery, Kim also said that he “felt regretful” that new houses in the area had a “monotonous” design. Earlier, state media had called the cookie-cutter houses a model of the “socialist fairyland”, promoting the regime’s recovery efforts following the destruction of thousands of homes.
In recent weeks state media said “faults” in its efforts to battle COVID-19 has been found faults with by Pyongyang.
On Friday, the ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun showed pictures from Kim’s tour, with lines of houses, red roofs and beige and white walls.