The Korean Central News Agency said the first session of the 15th Supreme People’s Assembly opened in Pyongyang and “again highly elevated Comrade Kim Jong-un to the post of president of the State Affairs.” Under North Korea’s constitution, the State Affairs Commission is the country’s highest state policy body, and its president serves as the supreme leader and head of state.
Kim has held the post since the commission was created in 2016, and his latest reappointment – third - formalizes the continuation of his rule under the new parliamentary term.
The SPA, North Korea’s rubber-stamp legislature, typically meets to approve personnel changes and codify decisions already made by the ruling Workers’ Party.
The session was accompanied by a notable reshuffle in the upper ranks of the regime.
Choe Ryong Hae, long regarded as one of the North’s most powerful officials and formerly chairman of the SPA Standing Committee, appears to have stepped down after being left off the list of delegates to the new assembly, according to reports preceding and following the session. He was succeeded by Jo Yong Won, a senior party secretary and one of Kim’s closest aides, who was also named first vice chairman of the State Affairs Commission, further underscoring his rise in the leadership hierarchy.
In a rare move for North Korea’s tightly controlled political system, KCNA said Choe delivered a farewell message in which he declared that the country had “permanently secured its status as a nuclear weapons state” and further strengthened its socialist system. Public remarks from departing senior officials are unusual in Pyongyang, where leadership transitions are normally handled without open acknowledgment.
Other appointments included Ri Son Gwon, a former inter-Korean affairs official, and Kim Hyong Sik, a party legal official, as vice chairmen of the State Affairs Commission.
Premier Pak Thae Song retained his post, while former premier Kim Tok Hun was appointed to the newly created role of first vice premier, according to KCNA.
KCNA also said the Second Economic Committee, which oversees munitions production and defense industry planning, would be placed under the Cabinet, though it did not disclose who would lead the body.
Kim Yo Jong, the leader’s influential sister, was removed from the State Affairs Commission, while Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui and External Economic Relations Minister Yun Jong Ho retained their posts. In another notable sign of institutional change, Rodong Sinmun referred to Ri Chang Dae, previously known as minister of state security, as head of a “State Intelligence Bureau,” suggesting a possible renaming or restructuring of the internal security apparatus.
The SPA session also took up amendments to the socialist constitution, implementation of the country’s new five-year national policy plan and state budget issues for 2025 and 2026, though state media gave no details. Analysts are watching closely to see whether the regime will formally write Kim’s “two hostile states” doctrine into the constitution, a move that could erase longstanding references to peaceful reunification and shared national identity with South Korea.
KCNA’s description of the meeting as the “first session” suggests further meetings could follow, with constitutional revision likely to remain at the center of attention.
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