North Korean leader Kim Jong Un returned from one of his longest-ever breaks from public view to visit a “utopian model rural city” project in the north of the country, according to state media on Tuesday. 

Kim inspected towns surrounding Samjiyon on an unspecified date near the northern border in order to understand the status of the “third stage” of a construction project that has involved rebuilding every small town in the surrounding area, the state-run Voice of Korea (VOK) reported.

The VOK report conveyed Kim’s satisfaction with progress in the “sacred place of the Sun,” despite