North Korea holds parliamentary session without the presence of Kim Jong-un

North Korea held a session of its Supreme People’s Assembly on Tuesday that was not attended by the leader Kim Jong-un and in which economic and domestic matters other than diplomacy with the South or the United States were discussed.

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The session focused on the adoption of youth education laws and modifications to the national economic plan, according to the state news agency KCNA.

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Since the pandemic began, the North Korean regime has emphasized the need to strengthen the teaching of the doctrines of the Workers’ Party among young people and has denounced the pernicious effect that foreign influences have on them.

In parliament he also discussed a “bill on city and county development,” the note added.

Among the senior officials present at the session were the president of the parliament presidium, Choe Ryong-hae, who is also a member of the poliburo presidium, or Prime Minister Kim Tok-hun.

KCNA spoke of “first session”, so it is not ruled out that Kim Jong-un may participate this week in successive assemblies, in which the future intentions of the regime in the diplomatic field could be revealed.

Experts believe that in the framework of these sessions – convened in an extraordinary way, since the parliament only usually meets in April – Pyongyang can send messages to Seoul or Washington.

Especially after last weekend the leader’s own sister, Kim Yo-jong, sent a message to the South Korean government with a somewhat more conciliatory tone.

This first parliamentary session was also held on the same day that the North Korean army tested its first hypersonic missile.

This last test shows the recent arms escalation in the peninsula.

Pyongyang already tested two ballistic missiles last week and a cruise missile shortly before, a series of tests to which Seoul responded by testing its first submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) and announcing several new weight developments.

Meanwhile, North Korea, which this year has reactivated facilities capable of producing atomic fuel that can be used for bombs, remains unresponsive to the US offer to try to revive the denuclearization talks, stalled since 2019.

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Deshawn