Top North Korean officials wore badges featuring Kim Jong Un’s portrait for the first time at a major party meeting this week, a development that experts said reflects expanding efforts to fortify the leader’s cult of personality in his 12th year of rule.

Photos published in the party-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Sunday showed officials delivering speeches at the mid-year plenum in Myohyangsan, northeast of Pyongyang, while wearing the Kim Jong Un badges, rather than the customary badges showing one or both of his predecessors.