Kim Jong-un, chairman of North Korea's State Affairs Commission, visited a mine district and cast a ballot on the day of the Supreme People's Assembly deputy election, which corresponds to a parliamentary election in the South.
Korean Central News Agency said on the 16th that Kim Jong-un visited the Chonseong Youth Coal Mine at the Sunchon District Youth Coal Mine Complex in South Pyongan Province the previous day, the election day for the 15th Supreme People's Assembly deputies, to participate in voting.
Kim Jong-un cast a vote in favor of Cho Chol-ho, the manager of the Chonseong Youth Coal Mine, who is a deputy candidate.
In a speech on site, Kim Jong-un said, "The working class of the coal industry is the core of the country, setting the most valuable merits at the forefront of nation-building," and "Coal was and is the food of our industry and the driving force of self-reliant economic development."
He went on, "The more our development accelerates and the more our ideals turn into reality, the more urgently coal demand is being raised. The backbone industries that must pull our state's prosperity and revitalization rely on none other than coal as fuel and raw material," noting the decision at the 9th Party Congress last month to expand coal production by 1.2 times as a five-year goal.
Kim Jong-un's choice of polling place has reflected his governance line by period. In the 13th election in 2014, he visited Kim Il Sung Political University, symbolizing regime security, and in the 14th election seven years ago, he went to Kim Chaek University of Technology in line with a policy emphasizing science and technology.
Choosing a coal mine in this 15th election is interpreted as a strategic judgment to revitalize key industries based on confidence in the economic situation.
Officials including Kim Jae-ryong, Ri Il-hwan, Kim Tok-hun and Kim Yo-jong accompanied Kim Jong-un to vote.