Home > National > North Korea

North set to convene first session of new Supreme People's Assembly

Published: 22 Mar. 2026, 12:14

A TV screen shows a file image of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a news program at Seoul Station in central Seoul on Feb. 26. [AP/YONHAP]

North Korea is set to hold the first session of its new Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) on Sunday amid attention on whether the regime will codify its hostile policy toward South Korea in its constitution.

The parliamentary session comes after last month's Ninth Congress of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, during which new deputies were selected.

The country's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Tuesday that the session will take place in Pyongyang “to deliberate on the election of the president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the elections of the state leadership and subcommittees of the SPA [and] the revision and supplement of the Socialist Constitution.”

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has defined the two Koreas as “two countries hostile to each other,” and whether this policy will be codified in the constitution is being closely watched by officials and analysts in South Korea and other regional powers.

Kim's stance positions South Korea as a primary enemy rather than a partner for reunification, justifies a more aggressive military stance and potential use of force and signals a long-term strategy of institutionalizing division on the Korean Peninsula while reducing prospects for dialogue.

In recent years, tensions between North and South Korea have intensified amid a cycle of military provocations and diplomatic breakdowns. North Korea has accelerated its missile tests, including intercontinental ballistic missiles, while issuing increasingly hostile rhetoric toward the South and the United States.

Also of interest is whether Kim will deliver a speech addressing North Korea's relations with the South, the United States and other countries.

The KCNA said the agenda will include the five-year national economic development plan adopted at the congress and the state budget for 2026.

Kim is expected to be re-elected as the country's top leader, with the same title of chief of the State Affairs Commission.

Party secretary Jo Yong-won, known as one of Kim's closest aides, is widely expected to be elected chairman of the SPA standing committee, likely replacing Choe Ryong-hae, who was relieved of the post during the congress and excluded from the new-term parliament.

North Korea typically convenes a SPA session after a party congress to legislate laws needed to implement decisions made at the congress.

The parliament, however, is widely seen as a body that rubber-stamps decisions made by the ruling party.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN, YONHAP [[email protected]]