North Korean parliamentary election, 2014

North Korean parliamentary election, 2014

9 March 2014

All 687 seats to the Supreme People's Assembly   First party   Leader Kim Jong-un Party Workers' Party Alliance Fatherland Front Leader's seat 111th Paektusan Seats won 607 / 687 Seat change 1

Premier before election Pak Pong-ju Workers' Party Premier-designate Pak Pong-ju Workers' Party

Parliamentary elections in North Korea, creating the 13th Supreme People's Assembly, were held on 9 March 2014.^[1]

Background

This is the first election since the assumption of Kim Jong-un as leader of the country following the death of Kim Jong-il and the execution of Jang Song-thaek.

It is claimed without substantiation, that the elections were an effective way to poll the population on their opinion on the government.^[2] In addition, it functions as a way for the government to determine whether any of its citizens have illegally changed their voting district within the country, or if people have left the country. The North Korean Government does so by enforcing borders and surveillance, in order to make sure that the voter turnout is reflective of the population. If there are missing people, then the local workers and residents are found responsible, so local workers attempt to ensure order in their region.^[3]

On 4 February, KCNA reported that a meeting of electorates in Paektusan Constituency 111 nominated WPK first secretary Kim Jong-un as deputy to the Supreme People's Assembly.^[4] According to a report in the Rodong Sinmun, the meeting to select him took place in the presence of senior military heavyweights KPA General Political Department Director Choe Ryong-hae, Chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army Ri Yong-gil, and Minister of the People's Armed Forces Jang Jong-nam.^[5][6][7]

Voting practices and procedures

The main purpose of elections in North Korea is to determine the location of voters and in theory their political allegiance^[2] as well as to fill parliament seats with new members who are loyal to Kim Jong Un. Members of the Supreme People's Assembly are elected in single-member constituencies, with one approved candidate put forward in each constituency.^[8] Large groups of voters are presented with a ballot while moving through a voting booth, on which there is a single box to tick a candidate's name.^[9] Voters must stop to cross out the candidate, making the process a monitored event.^[2] Voting is compulsory in North Korea.^[10] Some North Koreans in China who defected to South Korea after the famine in their home country in the mid-1990s have said they did so because they feared punishment back home for failing to show up for parliamentary elections.^[2]

Results

The main parties taking part were the Workers' Party of Korea, the Korean Social Democratic Party, the Chondoist Chongu Party as well as independent candidates.^[11] All candidates were also members of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland. While there are officially four parties in North Korean politics, each candidate must be approved by the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland, the dominant party in North Korean politics.

Elected members

First session

In the first session of the 14th convoction Ri Yong Mu and O Kuk Ryol retained their positions as vice-chairmen of the National Defense Commission, But Kim Yong Chun lost his vice-chairman position to Choe Ryong-hae. Minister of the People's Armed Forces Jang Jong-nam, as well as Jo Chun-ryong were newly elected to the NDC while Choe Pu-il, Kim Won-hong and Pak To-chun retained their membership. In the Cabinet of North Korea, the body which manages the administrative-economic apparatus, Premier of North Korea Pak Pong-ju was once again reelected to the position, which he held from 2003 to 2007 and again since 2013. The positions in the cabinet remain primarily unchanged, and the premier, who manages the cabinet, has remained the same. Additionally, Kim Jong Un's younger sister, Kim Yo Jung, has been the first time she has been named in public, likely showing a rise in her own political power.^[15] She was identified as state comrade, and senior official. She was shown with Kim Jong Un as he was making his way to vote at Kim Il Sung University. The most significant change in the cabinet was the replacement of Pak Ui-chun as Foreign Minister by Ri Su-yong.

Other appointment in the Cabinet:

• Mun Myong-hak replaced Ri Yong-yong as Minister of Coal Industry
• Kim Yong-gwang replaced Han Hyo-yon as Minister of Metallurgical Industry
• Ri Hak-chol replaced Kang Min-chol as Minister of Mining Industry
• Han Ryong-guk replaced Kim Kwang-yong as Minister of Forestry
• Kim Kyong-nam replaced Ri Song-ho as Minister of Commerce
• Pak Chun-nam replaced Hong Kwang-sun as Minister of Culture
• Kim Chon-gyun replaced Paek Ryong-chon as President of the Central Bank of North Korea
• Pak Myong-chol replaced Kim Pyong-ryul as President of the Supreme Court (not a cabinet position)

References

Elections in North Korea
Parliamentary elections	1948 1957 1962 1967 1972 1977 1982 1986 1990 1998 2003 2009 2014
Local elections	1946 1947 1949 1956 1959 1963 1967 1972 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015