N.K. parliament to consolidate Kim's power

North Korea was poised to open a meeting of its rubber-stamp parliament on Wednesday, seeking to consolidate Kim Jong-un’s leadership and set in motion follow-up measures in line with a fresh economic plan unveiled during last month’s party congress.

While no agenda or detailed schedule was announced by state media, the 13th Supreme People’s Assembly’s fourth session was likely to restore the long-defunct Central People’s Committee and name Kim as its head, some experts say.

Though the presumed change bears little impact on Kim’s already solid grip, he would look to flaunt his leadership credentials, buoyed by Pyongyang’s nuclear test and long- and intermediate-range missile launches.

At the ruling Workers’ Party’s first congress in 36 years, Kim was promoted as the party’s chairman from first secretary. He became the first chairman of the formidable National Defense Commission during the assembly’s 2012 session and also holds the title of supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army.

“Marking the fifth year since Kim took power, he could be crowned as the chairman of the Central People’s Committee or to similar posts during the latest assembly, after changing the party’s top position as its chairman at the congress,” said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior fellow at the Sejong Institute.

“This is to absolutize his authority to the levels of his late grandfather and father, Kim Il-sung and Jong-il, and lay the institutional foundation for the concentration of power surrounding him.”

The assembly is the communist state’s top-governing body under its constitution. It usually meets once or twice a year to review and endorse budgets, personnel shake-ups and other political, economic and administrative decisions.

Last amended in 1972, the constitution paved the way for the creation of the CPC, the highest organ overseeing the executive, legislative and judicial branches.

Kim Il-sung served as the CPC chief. But the panel was abolished in 1998 as Kim Jong-il sought to shore up the defense commission under his “songun (military first)” policy.

The body was also expected to approve details on the five-year economic plan Kim introduced at the congress.

Early this month, Pyongyang launched what it called a “200-day battle,” a mass mobilization campaign intended to boost productivity and kick-start the new economic plan.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)