SEOUL - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has visited a newly opened seafood restaurant in Pyongyang ahead of his historic meeting with US President Donald Trump in Singapore next week, North Korean media reported on Saturday (June 9).

According to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, reports of Mr Kim's latest on-site inspection came as Pyongyang's media have kept mum on the recent US visit by his right-hand man, Kim Yong Chol, for a rare meeting with Mr Trump at the White House.

Mr Kim, whose official title is Chairman of the State Affairs Commission, was accompanied by his wife Ri Sol Ju.

He looked around the Pyongyang restaurant's dining halls and other facilities before expressing satisfaction, according to a report from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

"Another landmark restaurant on par with Okryu-gwan has been born in Pyongyang," Mr Kim was quoted by the KCNA as saying, referring to the existing restaurant famous for Pyongyang-style cold noodles and other Korean food.

He then named the new establishment Pyongyang Daedonggang Seafood Restaurant, saying that design and construction works were all outstanding, Yonhap reported.

Mr Kim also asked restaurant workers to serve foreign customers, as well as North Korean workers, well.

The report did not reveal the exact date of Mr Kim's visit.

Mr Kim declared a shift in his policy focus to the economy at the party's plenary Central Committee meeting on April 20. Until then, the impoverished North had pursued the so-called Byungjin policy of developing both the military and the economy.

After Mr Kim's declaration, top North Korean officials have noticeably increased economy-related activities and field inspections.

Mr Choe Ryong Hae, vice chairman of the North's State Affairs Commission, visited cooperative farms, a fish farm and a food factory in regions south of the capital this month, following his earlier visits to an auto assembly plant and a foodstuff factory in late May.