North Korean state media was as of Saturday evening yet to report on a planned meeting of the country’s rubber-stamp Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), originally expected to convene on Friday.
Precedent suggested that coverage of the Third Session of the 14th SPA — reported by DPRK state media last month as being set to take place on April 10 — would emerge on Friday evening or Saturday morning.
SPA sessions have typically under the leadership of Kim Jong Un been covered by state TV on the day of convention, or in extensive coverage by party daily the Rodong Sinmun the following morning.
In a stark contrast to that coverage, however, Friday and Saturday broadcasts by the Korean Central Television (KCTV) featured no coverage of the third session of the 14th SPA.
The SPA was originally scheduled to meet on Friday, with the party daily on March 21 reporting that the Presidium — the rubber stamp legislature’s top executive body — had agreed to convene a session.
Experts expected that April’s SPA session would discuss issues such as budgetary and personnel issues — the latter of which may offer hints at the country’s planned direction in foreign and economic policy going forward.
Saturday’s edition of the North Korean party daily featured no coverage of the planned SPA session | Photo: Rodong Sinmun
But in lieu of coverage of the planned parliamentary session, Saturday’s party daily instead opted to dedicate its front page to a political essay(jongron) titled “For the Future Generation!” hailing Kim Jong Un’s dedication to build a “powerful” country on behalf of North Korea’s children.
The essay notably described Kim as being like a “father,” coming back from abroad “in March last year” — a reference to the ill-fated Hanoi Summit with the U.S. — and holding North Korean children in his arms.
The DPRK leader, the essay said, attended that summit “with the whole world watching… for these children,” apparently linking the no-deal summit to Kim’s attempts to make North Korea a more powerful nation.
“What is the biggest happiness, the biggest wealth that our generation can give to the next? It is dignity. A powerful fatherland,” it claimed.
Saturday’s 20:00 state television news bulletin, while carrying no coverage of the SPA session, opted instead to begin with a section marking the eighth anniversary of Kim’s election to the position of Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) First Secretary on April 11, 2012.
North Korean state television on Saturday marked the eighth anniversary of Kim rising to the position of Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) First Secretary, while refraining from coverage of the planned SPA session | Photo: KCTV
While the apparent postponement of state media coverage of the planned SPA meeting appeared unprecedented under Kim Jong Un’s rule, it remains unclear whether the parliamentary session has even taken place.
One in-country source told NK News that the SPA meeting may be delayed until Monday, while adding that information remained local “hearsay.”
The surprise delay in state media coverage of the planned event comes as Pyongyang continues to impose a range of strict precautions intended to prevent a potential spread of the COVID-19 virus.
And with a total of 687 deputies expected to attend the parliamentary session in the DPRK capital this Friday, one expert said the delay may be linked to attempts to stem an outbreak of that virus.
“This is all conjecture for now, but it is possible that there were SPA deputies with suspected symptoms,” Cheong Seong-chang, Director of the Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute, told NK News.
“Other than that, there is no reason for North Korea not to hold the SPA session that announces the budget planning for the new year,” he added.
“It’s possible that the North Korean leadership, which sees their supreme leader’s security as akin to the regime’s security, may have decided to postpone the session.”
North Korean state media was as of Saturday evening yet to report on a planned meeting of the country's rubber-stamp Supreme People's Assembly (SPA), originally expected to convene on Friday.
Precedent suggested that coverage of the Third Session of the 14th SPA -- reported by DPRK state media last month as being set to take place on April 10 -- would emerge on Friday evening or Saturday morning.
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Jeongmin Kim is the Lead Correspondent at NK News and Editorial Director at KOREA PRO, based in Seoul. Kim covers inter-Korean relations and North and South Korean foreign and military affairs. Kim has covered the 2022 ROK presidential election on the ground, and prior to joining NK News, she worked for the CSIS Korea Chair in Washington D.C. and Reuters news agency’s Seoul bureau.