North Korea’s Assembly Meets but No Mention of Unification, Foreign Policy Changes

Reuters

12:13 JST, January 24, 2025

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) met over two days this week and reported on its achievements during 2024 but state media made no mention of anticipated changes to the constitution that would further cement its hostile policy towards South Korea.

KCNA state news agency did not mention either whether leader Kim Jong Un had attended the sessions, nor did it report any decisions on foreign policy including plans for its dealings with the new U.S. administration.

The assembly swore in the country’s new premier and adopted the state budget for 2025 that will raise government spending to 103.8% of last year, including to accelerate “significant change in the national defence capabilities,” KCNA said.

The report did not provide any details on defence spending plans. The assembly approved a constitutional amendment to rename its supreme court and the top prosecutors’ office, KCNA said.

The SPA session last year amended the constitution to designate South Korea as “a hostile state,” and was expected by officials and experts in the South to adopt further changes that could be followed by aggressive military moves.

In a separate KCNA dispatch, the North reported on the arrest of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and the trial reviewing his impeachment, where he “babbled nonsense to try to justify his madcap actions” to declare martial law.