North Korean Officials Sport Kim Jong-un Pins

North Korean officials wore pins with a portrait of Kim Jong-un in public for the first time in pictures released by state media, the latest step in the development of a cult of personality around the leader, as Pyongyang denounced joint military drills by South Korea, Japan and the US, calling them an “Asian version of NATO” and warning of “fatal consequences.”

The officials, speaking at a key meeting of the reclusive state’s ruling party chaired by Kim, wore the typical party logo pin on the right lapel and, on the left chest, the pin with Kim’s face against a flag-shaped red background.

The 10th Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, which reviews the party’s performance for the first half of the year, began, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.

The Kim dynasty that has ruled North Korea since its founding after World War II has sought to strengthen its grip on power by building cults of personality around itself.

In an apparent push to solidify Kim’s status as a leader equal to his father and grandfather, North Korean media published photographs showing his portrait hanging prominently next to those of Kim Jong-il and national patriarch Kim Il-sung earlier this year.

In April, the music video for a propaganda song praising Kim Jong-un as a “friendly father” and a “great leader” was aired on the state-controlled Korean Central Television.

Meanwhile, Pyongyang denounced military drills by South Korea, Japan and the US, a day after the allies wrapped up the Freedom Edge exercises in ballistic missile and air defenses, anti-submarine warfare and defensive cybertraining.

“We strongly denounce provocative military muscle-flexing against the DPRK,” the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, referring to the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.