North Korea’s leadership continued its recent focus on advancing regional economic development alongside military modernization, reiterating the importance of Kim Jong Un’s vision in a week that marked founding leader Kim Il Sung’s death anniversary.

Kim Jong Un’s inspection of ongoing construction projects for industrial facilities, a hospital and a service center in the eastern county of Rakwon highlighted his push to advance “underdeveloped” regions. But his economic tour, which came on the same day he oversaw a new warship’s weapons test, also underscored the area’s significance for North Korea’s