North Korea commemorated the 31st death anniversary of Kim Il Sung this week with leader Kim Jong Un visiting the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun while state media featured coverage honoring the country’s founder. However, Kim Jong Un’s regime has been gradually reducing the idolization of past leaders to assert his own independent stature. 

The party committees of Cabinet, provinces and ministries held follow-up meetings to discuss measures for carrying out directions from last month’s party plenum. However, the reports offered few clues about the secretive plenum though it likely emphasized economic issues given