North Korean state media this week highlighted an ongoing mass campaign to encourage workers with celebrity star power. The evening news aired footage of TV star Nam Ryong Woo performing a short play at a factory in Hamhung, outside the capital.

The country’s rubber-stamp parliament also held a plenary meeting and passed a new law on cultivating and managing “sci-tech talents,” implying that the state seeks greater control over scientific output.

State media also emphasized the close relationship between North Korea and China, revealing the contents of a message Xi Jinping reportedly sent to