【Internal Affairs】
On May 10, the North Korean media reported that Kim Jong Un visited the Rangnang Disabled Soldiers’ Essential Plastic Goods Factory.
On May 8, the North Korean media reported that Premier Pak Pong Ju made a field survey of the Pyongyang Automation Appliances Factory.1
On May 8, the North Korean media reported that officers and members of the 216 Division are making progress in the construction to spruce up Samjiyon County, Ryanggang Province.
On May 10-11, the North Korean media reported that the North is going all out to prevent drought damage and that rice-planting began.
On May 10, the North Korean media reported achievements in the cultural and art field: a briefing session was held on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Pyongyang Embroidery Institute; the 12th Symposium on Architectural Aesthetics was held; and the remodeled Korean Revolution Museum is drawing an endless stream of visitors after its re-opening.
【Inter-Korean Affairs】
On May 11, the North Korean media reported that the 19th presidential elections were held in South Korea and Moon Jae-in was elected president.
On May 12, the North Korean media reported that the Central Public Prosecutors Office, in a statement, claimed that the ROK and US intelligence agencies were perpetrating "terrorism against Kim Jong Un" and demanded the "handover of the criminals involved so as to punish the organizers, conspirators, and followers of this terrible state-sponsored terrorism," and threatened to execute them mercilessly.
On May 12, the North Korean media reported that a spokesperson for the North Side Headquarters of the Nationwide Special Committee for Probing the Truth behind the GIs' Crimes, in a statement, condemned the establishment of the Korea Defense Veterans Association as an anti-national act and instigated a fight against it.
【Foreign Affairs】
On May 6, the North Korean media reported that the North detained Kim Hak Song, who worked at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), for "anti-state, hostile acts."
On May 11, the North Korean media reported that a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a Q&A session with KCNA reporters, claimed that it is the “legitimate right of a sovereign state to deal with criminals according to its law” and rejected criticism from the American media that the North is holding the Americans hostage to use as a bargaining chip.
On May 12, the North Korean media reported that the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly sent a letter of protest to the US House of Representatives regarding the passage of the North Korea Interdiction & Modernization of Sanctions Act and urged the US to “make rational moves regarding the Korean Peninsula issues,” adding that “As the US House of Representatives enacts more and more of these reckless hostile laws, the DPRK's efforts to strengthen nuclear deterrents will gain greater pace.”
On May 12, the North Korean media reported that North Korea’s permanent mission to the U.N., in a press release, claimed that the US and South Korea “plotted to kill the supreme leadership” and that “the UN and its member countries should actively respond to the Korean-style anti-terrorist striking actions in various ways including punishing the criminals."
