Kim Jong-un absent from sixth meeting of 13th North Korean Supreme People’s Assembly

Posted on : 2018-04-13 17:24 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
No discussions related to the nuclear issue or foreign policy were reported by the KCNA
On Apr. 10
On Apr. 10

A sixth meeting of North Korea’s 13th Supreme People’s Assembly took place on Apr. 11 at the Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Apr. 12. Designated by the North Korean Constitution as the “state’s supreme guidance organization,” the Supreme People’s Assembly is the North’s equivalent to South Korea’s National Assembly.

Opened with an address by speaker Choe Tae-bok, the meeting that day included discussions in three areas including the Cabinet’s 2017 project conditions and 2018 efforts for the five-year national economic development strategy, finalizing the 2017 accounts and the 2018 budget, and organizational issues, KCNA said. With the meeting taking place ahead of scheduled inter-Korean and North Korea-US summits, some had predicted it might also include content related to the nuclear issue and foreign policy, but no related discussions were reported as taking place at the Apr. 11 meeting.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who previously missed SPA meetings in Sept. 2014 and Apr. 2015, was absent this year as well. His younger sister, Workers’ Party first deputy director Kim Yo-jong, was shown on Korean Central Television (KCTV) sitting on the platform with members of the party, government, and military leadership.

“On the whole, we concluded that [the meeting] was in line with past levels,” a senior official at the Ministry of Unification said.

The official also said Kim’s absence was “not seen as unusual, as he previously presided over a Workers’ Party Central Committee Politburo meeting [on Apr. 9] and has been absent in the past.”

Hwang Pyong-so and Kim Won-hong, who were forced out of the military’s general politburo after an investigation last year by the party organization leadership, and Kim Ki-nam, who was removed as party vice chairman during a second plenary session of the party’s central committee in October, also had their State Affairs Commission titles revoked at this meeting.

Also drawing attention was the appointment of Kim Jong-gak, who assumed military personnel, censorship, and control authority as Hwang’s successor as general politburo chief, as a regular State Affairs Council member rather than vice chairman like his predecessors.

By Jung In-hwan, staff reporter

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