North Korea’s new legislature to convene March 22
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The newly elected Supreme People's Assembly will convene its first session on March 22.
PHOTO: REUTERS
SEOUL - North Korea’s rubber-stamp legislature will convene on March 22 to consider revisions to the nation’s Constitution and the election of state leadership, state media reported.
The gathering of the 15th Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) follows a five-yearly gathering of the ruling party in February which elevated leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful younger sister Kim Yo Jong to a top position.
On March 15, 687 deputies were “elected” to the SPA, with all North Koreans over 17 given the choice of approving or rejecting the sole candidate put forward by the ruling party.
The candidates were duly approved with 99.93 per cent of votes in favour and 0.07 per cent against, the Korean Central News agency (KCNA) reported, with turnout at 99.99 per cent.
The result reflected citizens’ “ardent desire and self-confidence to reliably defend their glorious state political system”, the news agency said.
It followed the ninth Workers’ Party congress in February, which directs efforts on everything from diplomacy to war planning and which closed with a grand military parade.
The SPA is expected to formalise decisions made in that congress, Dr Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told AFP.
“The regime appears intent on swiftly codifying the decisions of the party congress,” Dr Hong told AFP.
The gathering elevated Ms Kim Yo Jong – long considered one of her brother’s closest lieutenants – to department director within the party’s apex central committee, according to KCNA.
She has in recent years emerged as one of the most powerful figures in North Korea, playing a highly visible role in diplomacy, nuclear negotiations and other matters of state.
The SPA will also deliberate on the re-election of Mr Kim as president of the State Affairs Commission, the country’s top state post, and possible revisions to the Constitution, KCNA said.
Mr Kim is the third-generation ruler of the nuclear-armed state founded by his grandfather Kim Il Sung in 1948 and has ruled the country since his father’s death in late 2011.
The possible constitutional amendments could include formally codifying inter-Korean relations as those between “two hostile states”, analyst Dr Hong said. AFP
