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North Korea to elect representatives to Supreme People's Assembly this month

Published: 04 Mar. 2026, 10:13

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks at the Ninth Party Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang on Feb. 23 in this photo carried by the Korean Central News Agency on Feb. 24. [YONHAP]

North Korea will elect representatives to its parliament, the Supreme People's Assembly, later this month, state media said Wednesday, as a follow-up step after a recent party congress.

The election of representatives to the 15th Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) will be held March 15, the Korean Central News Agency said, citing a decision by the parliamentary standing committee.

The formation of a new parliament will follow a weeklong congress of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea held last month, which is the country's highest decision-making body, where the North laid out key policy goals for the next five years.

North Korea typically holds a parliamentary session after a party congress to translate party decisions into law and carry out a personnel reshuffle to implement them.

The upcoming parliamentary session is expected to see Choe Ryong-hae, chairman of the SPA standing committee, relieved of his post after the 76-year-old longtime cadre was excluded from the party's central committee, along with other senior officials, in a major generational shift in leadership.

Jo Yong-won, a party secretary known as one of leader Kim Jong-un's closest aides, is seen as a likely successor to Choe.

A major focus of attention will be whether Kim will be named president, the top state seat reserved so far for founder Kim Il Sung, as the SPA makes key personnel decisions.

The SPA is also seen as likely to codify the regime's policy defining the two Koreas as "hostile countries" into the constitution, after Kim first announced the stance in 2023, which led to hostile policies toward Seoul.

Yonhap