North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called on the country’s security agency to display unshakable loyalty to the country’s sovereignty protection efforts, the state news media said Sunday.

“The Ministry of State Security has a very important duty to perform to protect the sovereignty of the country and the nation,” Kim said during his visit to the security agency to pay tribute to a newly-erected statue of his father, late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, the (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in an English-language dispatch.

The leader called on agency employees to be “fully aware of their heavy yet honorable combat missions,” also urging their loyalty to the country’s security maintenance efforts, according to the KCNA.

The mouthpiece of the communist country also said Kim underscored the importance of “foiling the ideological and cultural poisoning and psychological warfare for the enemies,” the KCNA noted.

Kim’s reported visit to the national security agency, which is believed to be in charge of running the regime’s notoriously brutal political prisons, comes as the country is reportedly tightening its grip on security activities as the new leadership makes efforts to solidify its power.

Meanwhile, the country saw its rice prices shoot up to the highest level in recent months, a report by a North Korea-focused Internet news outlet said, indicating rising inflation burdens on North Koreans.

The Seoul-based Daily NK said one kilogram of rice, the staple for Koreans, changed hands in the mid-6,000 won level in major North Korean cities as of late last month, around 1,000 to 2,000 North Korean won higher than a month earlier.

Around 6,500 North Korean won could fetch one U.S. dollar last month, the news outlet said. In August about 5,000 won or less could get one U.S. dollar, it said, indicating rising demand in the North for the U.S. note. 

(Yonhap News)