‘Comrade’ Kim Jong-un, re-elected head of state of North Korea for the third time, without rivals and by a ‘large majority’

The re-election “by a large majority” occurred during the first session of the new legislature of the Supreme People’s Assembly, in Pyongyang, after the parliamentary elections in mid-March, which included a participation of 99.9%.

“The XV Supreme People’s Assembly has solemnly proclaimed before the world, both national and international, the historic decision to appoint the comrade Kim Jong-un, undisputed leader of the Juche revolution, for the highest office of the Republic, thus embodying the unanimous will and aspirations of all the Korean people,” the North Korean state agency KCNA reported this Monday.

It is about the third consecutive term of Kim at the head of the State Affairs Committee. The leader of the secretive regime also serves as general secretary of the Workers’ Party.

The session inaugurated the work of the 15th legislature of the North Korean Parliament, a body of mere formality that simply ratifies the decisions of Kim and the party.

The assembly, which usually lasts two days, will also debate the implementation of the five-year economic development plan approved at the party’s 9th Congress in February, as well as possible revisions to the Constitution.

your sister Kim Yo-jong

Among the issues that could be addressed is the eventual formal incorporation into the Constitution of the doctrine promoted by Kim of consider South Korea a “hostile state.”

The possible constitutional reform could consolidate the doctrine promoted by Kim that the two Koreas are “two states hostile to each other.”

Although state media already indicated in 2024 that this position had been incorporated into the Constitution, its potential formalization by the new Parliament would be a blow to the conciliatory gestures towards Pyongyang of the current South Korean Administration of Lee Jae-myung.

In the new composition of the State Affairs Committee does not appear Kim Yo-jong, the leader’s influential sister, according to the list published by the KCNA.

The absence, however, may be related to her promotion announced last month to director of the General Affairs Department of the party’s Central Committee, a position that strengthens her contacts with the president.