Not that I necessarily disagree with the other answers on here so far - that is, people write down whatever he says because of a deeply instilled fear that to do otherwise would make them appear disloyal - however, the larger reason why this practice exists goes back to Kim Jong Un's grandfather, Kim Il-sung. It's called "On the Spot Guidance."
They're most likely making notes, which will later be transcribed to their diaries, and then be submitted to the party officials for review.
I'm from China, while we're very different from NK, there're still some "communism" legacy traditions no one bother to change. One thing that's very common in school is that students are required to write diaries and submit them to their teacher for review. It is a hateful "communism" legacy tradition came from the entire "thought management" (when the party still prosecute "thought crimes"). How do you regulate people's thought? You require them to write daily confessions. So when I was forced to write diaries, about 50% of my diaries were "apology letters" for something I did wrong that day. If some officials were visiting our school and we sit through some boring meetings, we are required to write about the leaders' speeches and how it inspired us. While during such meetings, the teacher will require the kids to make notes so that they can appear being attentive to the speaking leader, and have something to write about when they get home.
There's a reason I despise writing diaries and refuse to do it after I got out of elementary school (middle schools usually don't require you to write mandatory diaries because by the time of middle school, the education is much more exam orientated, and diary writing is perceived as a less useful writing exercise).
I imagine NK would be the same and like 1000 times worse. I imagine a lot of people probably truly want to record whatever the fat kid is saying and take them as Gospel. I'm just glad China had grow out of it.
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