North Korean leader presides over politburo meeting in first public appearance in a month

North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency reported June 5 that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presided over a politburo session of the Workers' Party the previous day. Yonhap

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presided over a politburo session of the Workers' Party in his first public appearance in a month and discussed convening a key party meeting and organizational matters, the North's state media reported Saturday.

During the session, the politburo agreed to hold a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Party in early June to take "additional state measures for solving pending problems urgent for the economic work and people's living," the official Korean Central News Agency said.

"Positively appreciating that a lot of planned works are being sped up on a long-term basis, thanks to the ideological enthusiasm and fighting spirit of self-reliance of the entire Party and all the people which were considerably raised by the 8th Congress of the Party, though the smooth development of the state affairs are being seriously challenged and restricted due to the prevailing unfavorable subjective and objective conditions and environment," the KCNA said.

Kim was last seen in public May 6 when he held a photo session with the families of members of the North Korean army after watching their performance the previous day. (Yonhap)