北 최고인민회의, 사회주의 헌법 개정•보충... "김정은 법적지위 더욱 공고히"
Over in North Korea, the Supreme People's Assembly held a meeting.
Its quite rare for the rubberstamp parliament to gather two times a year and the meeting came amid months-long deadlock in nuclear negotiations.
So there was swell of interest on what's discussed at the session.
The results of the meeting were announced just two hours ago via Pyeongyang's state TV.
We have our unification ministry correspondent Oh Jung-hee joining us on the line.
Jung-hee, what do you have for us?
Daniel, today's key point is that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un further cemented his grip on power.
As widely speculated, the North did modify lower statutes of its constitution.
It explained that the chairman of the North's State Affairs Commission the top decision-making post that Kim Jong-un holds in the government is elected by the parliament, and at the same time, Kim does not double as a member of the parliament.
It also said that Kim Jong-un's post as the chairman of the State Affairs Comission now has the authority to proclaim the parliament's legislations and significant decisions by the State Affairs Commission.
Kim can now also designate envoys to other countries.
The parliament emphasized that all these moves will firmly guarantee Kim's leadership and strengthen his legal mandate over the regime.
Expectations were high in regards to a possible unveiling of the regime's five-year economic development plan at the parliamentary meeting, as the plan is due next year.
But there was no mention about that in the TV report aired on the state-run broadcaster.
And since the meeting took place amid no signs of working-level negotiations between Pyeongyang and Washington,... attention was on whether Kim Jong-un would make a speech to clarify his stance on talks with the U.S., just like he did in April's session. However, that didn't happen... as Kim was absent at the parliamentary session today.
All in all, I should say that the parliament rather focused on underscoring Kim Jong-un's authority in the regime, while making no mention on the economy nor the denuclearization talks.
Daniel.
