North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met a group of young men who were reportedly “lagging behind” ruling party expectations before earning a fresh start laboring at “difficult” work sites this year, state media reported on Tuesday.

Kim also took a group photo on Monday with thousands of young North Koreans who took part in Youth Day celebrations in Pyongyang over the weekend, raising questions about what prevented him from taking otherwise standard group photos with other event attendees earlier this summer.

“Those young people, who had been lagging behind others, realized the gratitude of