North Korea is shedding light on its former leader Kim Jong-il’s economic achievements ahead of the seventh anniversary of his death next Monday. 

The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, filled two pages of its Monday edition with related articles. 

In one of the articles, the newspaper praised how Kim devoted his life to building a prosperous country by highlighting his field visit to a Pyongyang-based factory on September eighth of 2011, three months before he died of heart disease. 

Little focus, however, was made on Kim’s military achievements as was ahead of the sixth anniversary of his death last year, a change which many observers attribute to the regime’s willingness to prioritize economic development. 

Since the beginning of this year, the North has been distancing itself from its "byeongjin" or dual-track policy of pursuing economic development and nuclear weapons and has instead been promoting its resolve for economic development.