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Choe Ryong-hae leads the 11th plenary meeting of the 14th Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly in Pyongyang on Nov. 4. (KCNA/Yonhap News)

North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) held the 11th plenary meeting of its 14th Presidium on Nov. 4, where it decided to adopt a tobacco prohibition law and revise and supplement (amend) its enterprise law, the Rodong Sinmun reported in a front-page story on Nov. 5.

The “tobacco-prohibition law with 31 provisions” adopted at the meeting, which took place at the Mansudae Assembly Hall with SPA Presidium President Choe Ryong-hae presiding, was stated as having the aims of “tightening the legal and social controls” on tobacco, “protecting the lives and health of the people,” and “providing more cultured and hygienic living environments.”

“The law specifies places and units in which smoking is forbidden, such as places for political and ideological education, public places including theaters and cinemas, and the institutions for nursing and upbringing children, education ones, medical and public health facilities, commercial and public catering ones, [and] public transport means,” the article said, adding that it “indicates penalties for violating smoking rules.” This indicates that people will be punished for smoking in public settings such as movie theaters, restaurants, and hospitals and on public transportation.

Many are watching to see what changes this will mean for leader Kim Jong-un, who has often been shown in the Rodong Sinmun, on Korea Central Television, and in other media smoking a cigarette while conducting on-the-spot guidance and presiding over meetings.

The amendments to the enterprise act are intended to “mak[e] enterprises labor-, energy-, cost-, and land-saving,” stipulating “issues which all the units must observe when organizing new enterprises or when their affiliations change.” This signals that enterprises are to be categorized and operated in accordance with the strategic aim of “achieving a full-scale breakthrough through self-reliance,” with tighter controls in connection with enterprise management.

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer

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