In April, he announced an end to his byungjin policy, explaining that he had completed one of the two parallel goals: building a nuclear arsenal. Now, he said, North Korea would focus all national resources on rebuilding the economy.
Analysts in South Korea have since wondered: Does that mean that Mr. Kim is willing to bargain away his nuclear missiles in exchange for economic and security concessions from the United States and its allies? And is the Trump administration willing to test Mr. Kim’s intentions by engaging him with a give-and-take?
“What’s clear is that the pieces of the puzzle won’t come into place until we see improvements in relations between the United States and North Korea and the easing and lifting of sanctions,” said Hwang Jae-jun, a North Korea specialist at the Sejong Institute, a research think tank in South Korea.
In North Korea, the top leader uses his heavily publicized “field guidance” trips — like the visit to the troubled dam — to establish his priorities. When Mr. Kim was expediting his nuclear and missile programs last year, he visited weapons facilities and missile test sites, and hosted banquets for weapons engineers.
In contrast, almost all of the 30 field guidance trips Mr. Kim has made since late June were to factories, farms and construction sites. On July 17, the Rodong Sinmun, North Korea’s main newspaper, published 12 pages, double its normal size, devoting the first nine pages to pictures and articles about Mr. Kim’s visits to factories and farms.
Last week, North Korean media published photos of Mr. Kim stripped down to an undershirt and sweating profusely while visiting a fish-pickling factory during the country’s wilting heat wave. (North Korean leaders often conduct their field trips during extreme weather to show their dedication, foreign analysts have noted.)
Despite such propaganda efforts, however, Mr. Kim may be more vulnerable to economic crises than his predecessors, experts like Mr. Frank say, as outside goods and information have begun flowing into North Korea — thanks partly to Mr. Kim’s own reforms.
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