A South Korean think tank said that Kim Jong UN has held 118 public events this year, the most in nine years

According to data from a South Korean think tank, as of the end of November, North Korean official media have reported that the country's top leader, Kim Jong UN, has held a total of 118 public events this year, the highest number in nearly nine years.

The Yonhap News Agency reported that the Korea Institute for Unification released the above information on Sunday (December 28). If the reports by the Korean Central News Agency and Rodong Sinmun up to Saturday (27th) are included, the number of Kim Jong UN's public events has increased to 131, a slight rise from 127 throughout last year and reaching the highest level since 2016 (131).

Analysis points out that Kim Jong UN not only made an appearance on the international multilateral diplomatic stage and actively expanded the scope of diplomatic activities, but also encouraged the five-year plans in the internal political, military and people's livelihood fields.

As of December 27th, Kim Jong UN's public activities this year mainly focused on attending ceremonies and other events (30 times), on-site inspections (23 times), and military-related activities (21 times), etc. This might be because North Korea is promoting the "20×10 Policy for Local Development", for which Kim Jong UN attended military ceremonies at various local factories and hospitals and provided guidance at construction sites, etc.

Kim Jong UN made his first appearance on the international multilateral diplomatic stage this year when he attended the 80th anniversary military parade of China's victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in Beijing in September and has participated in five "summit diplomacy" schedules. He also met with senior figures from other countries or foreign diplomatic missions a total of 10 times, including three meetings with Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu, highlighting the alliance between North Korea and Russia.

The data also shows that as of the end of November this year, the person who accompanied Kim Jong UN to public events the most times was Cho Yong-won, the secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (22 times), followed by Park Chung-chun, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Party (19 times), and Defense Minister Nou Kwang-chul (11 times), among others.

Kim Joo-ae, the daughter of Kim Jong-un, not only accompanied Kim Jong-un on his visit to China this year but also attended various military-related and inspection activities, but these were not included in this statistics.