While the meeting of North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament on Wednesday failed to produce any major headlines, reports from its state media did give a snapshot of how the country spent its limited resources last year.

North Korean finance minister Choe Kwang Jin informed the gathering that Pyongyang allocated 45.2% of its total spending to “economic construction to consolidate the foundation of the self-supporting economy,” with a focus on agriculture and construction. Social projects including education, healthcare and sports...