North Korea to elect delegates to legislative assembly
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivering a speech during his visit to the Sangwon Cement Complex in North Hwanghae province, North Korea, on March 1.
PHOTO: AFP
SEOUL – North Korea will choose delegates to its national assembly in March, following a recently held major gathering of its ruling party, state media said on March 4.
Focus will be on whether leader Kim Jong Un will be named president, the top state post, long reserved for North Korea’s founder and Mr Kim’s late grandfather Kim Il Sung.
The election of delegates to the rubber-stamp Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) will take place on March 15, said Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency, citing a decision by the parliamentary standing committee.
It comes after the once-every-five-years summit of the ruling Workers’ Party, a gathering that directs state efforts on everything from diplomacy to war planning.
Mr Kim has repeatedly vowed to define South Korea as a “hostile” separate state
He described Seoul’s latest peace efforts as a “clumsy deceptive farce and a poor work”.
The SPA is expected to incorporate it into the Constitution once the election has taken place.
The announcement comes as speculation mounts over whether US President Donald Trump will seek a meeting with Mr Kim during a planned trip to China in April
As the summit wrapped on Feb 25, Mr Kim said his country could “get along” with the United States if it accepted Pyongyang’s nuclear status.
The US has for decades led efforts to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear programme, but summits, sanctions and diplomatic pressure have had little impact. AFP
