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| This April 2018 photo shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un preparing to write in a guestbook with his sister, Kim Yo-jong, in the Peace House at the Truce Village of Panmunjom inside the Demilitarized Zone. Korea Times file |
By Jung Da-min
North Korea's major diplomatic figures have been elected as new parliamentary members, while its leader Kim Jong-un did not run in the election.
The list of members elected to the 14th Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) was announced on the sate-run Korean Central Television broadcast, Tuesday afternoon, two days after a nationwide election. A total of 678 deputies have been elected, one from each constituency.
Kim Yo-jong, Kim Jong-un's sister and first director of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), was elected to constituency No. 5 in the capital Pyongyang's Mangyongdae district, which is considered the home neighborhood of the country's founder, Kim Il-sung.
Kim Yo-jong has been assisting her brother on the country's diplomatic stage with South Korea as well as with the U.S., receiving the spotlight for waiting on her brother hand and foot.
The North's Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho and Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, who played an active part behind the scenes of the Hanoi summit between Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump, were elected as SPA members for the first time.
Other diplomatic figures newly elected to the SPA included Ri Su-yong and Kim Yong-chol, vice chairmen of the WPK central committee, as well as North Korea's ambassador to the United States Kim Song, and Ri Son-gwon, chairman of the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland.
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| Kim Yo-jong has been elected in Constituency No. 5 in the capital Pyongyang's Mangyongdae district, said to be the home neighborhood of the country's founder Kim Il-sung. KCTV-Yonhap |
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According to an analysis of the North's election results by the South's Ministry of Unification, Tuesday, 50 percent of the SPA members have been replaced.
The ministry said it was noteworthy that Kim Jong-un's name was off the list.
"This is the first time since the foundation of the North Korean regime that the country's leader has not been named as a member of the Supreme People's Assembly," the ministry said. "Further observation is needed to figure out the specific situation behind it."
The fact that Kim Jong-un's name was off the list means he did not run in the election, which is an unprecedented move in the North Korean dictatorship, a North Korean watcher said.
"It seems that Kim Jong-un does not like the idea of idolization, unlike his father and grandfather Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung, and wants to shape his figure as a pragmatic and realistic man," said Chon Hyon-joon, head of the Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Institute.
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| A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un casting his vote as he takes part in the election of deputies to the 14th Supreme People's Assembly at a polling station in Pyongyang, March 10. KCNA-EPA-Yonhap |
This is the first time the country's leader was not named as a member of the SPA in 70 years since the country's foundation in 1948.
Kim Il-sung served nine terms, from 1948 to 1994 and his successor and son Kim Jong-il served six terms from 1982 to 2011.
The current leader Kim had run for Constituency No. 11 in Mount Paektu in the 2014 election and received 100 percent support.
"There is no point being a delegate of the Supreme People's Assembly, as it only acts as a rubber stamp of the ruling Workers' Party," Chon said. "Nevertheless, the fact that Kim has decided not to appear on the symbolic list of the leadership could mean that he wants to warn the party bureaucrats to beware of bureaucracy and corruption and serve the people."
