SEOUL – Kim Jong Un’s public appearances at sites of economic significance and outside of Pyongyang are rising, data for June and July published in the North Korea Leadership Tracker shows.

Kim made a total of 32 public appearances in June, the most of any single month since he succeeded his father Kim Jong Il as Supreme Leader in January 2012. Eighteen of these visits (or 56 percent) were economic in nature, and seven of them (22 percent) took place in Pyongyang.

Although more appearances were recorded in Pyongyang than any other area (eight of them happened in unspecified areas),