Updated at 07:25 KST to include more details from the state media report on the meeting.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday guided an enlarged Political Bureau (Politburo) meeting in Pyongyang over COVID-19 protection measures, state media reported Friday, in which he criticized officials for improper response to the crisis.

It was Kim’s first appearance to include photo evidence since June 8, and details of the agenda suggested inter-Korean relations were not mentioned, despite recent tensions with Seoul.

“At the meeting, as the first agenda item they reviewed the work of the past 6 months for preventing the malignant contagious disease and discussed an issue on further consolidating the present anti-epidemic situation by enhancing the state emergency anti-epidemic work,” an English-language article from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

It said that “after analyzing in detail the 6 month-long national emergency anti-epidemic work, [Kim] said we have thoroughly prevented the inroad of the malignant virus and maintained stable anti-epidemic situation despite the worldwide health crisis.”

But despite praising the country’s response to the virus, the report suggests heavy emphasis was placed by Kim on criticizing officials and others who displayed “self-complacence or relaxation on the anti-epidemic front.”

The North Korean leader “made sharp criticism of inattention, onlooking and chronic attitude getting prevalent among officials, and violation of the rules of the emergency anti-epidemic work,” it said.

Kim also reportedly characterized the work as taking “on a protracted character,” suggesting the country is preparing for a long battle still while officially claiming no infections nationwide.

KCNA added that other officials attending the enlarged Politburo meeting also made speeches reviewing “problems revealed in the state emergency anti-epidemic work from a critical viewpoint in the first half of the year.”

The meeting also touched upon the “hastening” of the ongoing Pyongyang General Hospital construction project, with Kim having expressed “satisfaction” at project progress.

These two agenda items were “adopted with full approval,” the report added, saying “important issues related to the external affairs of the Party and other matters” were additionally discussed.

The report comes amid all-time seasonal appearance lows by Kim Jong Un during the past three months.

Data from the NK Pro Leadership Tracker indicates that the North Korean leader is significantly more quiet than usual, appearing a total of only seven times in April, May, and June 2020 — a significant drop from the 46 appearances he made on average in the same three months between 2012 and 2019.

Although photos taken of Kim at a May 1 ribbon-cutting ceremony ended previous rumors that he died, the overall low frequency of the North Korean leader’s appearances over the past three months raises questions about what is happening in the country.

“I guess he is probably sick and probably getting treatment,” said Fyodor Tertitskiy, a professor at Kookmin University and a contributor to NK News. 

“It is the only logical explanation… We should remember he skipped the April 15 visit to the Mausoleum, and he wouldn’t have done so unless he had very serious reasons.”

Another highly-circulated theory is that Kim Jong Un is avoiding public appearances due to concerns over the spread of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus within the DPRK.

Though North Korean state media continuously claims that the country hasn’t had a single case of COVID-19, most observers believe that can’t possibly be true. Some have speculated that Kim is keeping a low profile to avoid catching the virus himself.

Last Friday, the Japanese government mentioned fears over COVID-19 as one potential factor behind the DPRK’s recent belligerence.