Election Date: August 5, 2008

Abstract: At stake: Supreme People's Assembly (Status Unknown)

At stake: Supreme People's Assembly (Status Unknown)

Note: At this point, there is no official indication that the election will be held. The election tracker for North Korea will be updated as more information becomes available.

Background

A complex conflict between north and south escalated into a full-out war when the two sides of Korea were dragged into the Cold War. An armistice was agreed to on July 27, 1953. A four-kilometer demilitarized line separates North Korea and South Korea.

Kim Jong-il has been the de-facto leader of North Korea—a communist regime—since the death of his father, Kim Il Song, in 1994. North Korea was branded as part of an "axis of evil" by United States president George W. Bush in January 2002.

North Korea renewed its parliament for the first time this century in August 2003.

As expected, the list of eligible candidates only included members of the ruling Workers Party of Korea (CND) and two smaller organizations, the Korean Social Democratic Party (CS) and the Chondoist Chongu Party (CC). All three parties form the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland. No other political organizations exist in the country.

Kim won his seat—on Pyongyang's constituency number 649—with 100 per cent of the vote, according to published reports. Kim was one of 687 candidates who ran uncontested. The Korean Central News Agency established turnout at 99.9 per cent, explaining that a small part of the population was either abroad or at sea during the vote.

The Supreme People's Assembly is regarded as a particularly weak legislature. Kim has successfully courted younger lawmakers and forced the retirement of a group of senior representatives.

Click Here for North Korea’s 2003 Legislative Election Tracker

North Korea is known for its fierce opposition to external intervention on domestic affairs. Kim’s regime—like that of his father—has been accused of committing massive human rights violations, including summary executions, torture, and inhumane conditions in prison camps.

North Korea was at some point the second most industrialized country in East Asia after Japan. However, its strict isolation from the rest of the world has made it today one of the poorest nations in the globe. There are concerns that many people starve to death as a direct consequence of government policies and poverty.

In February 2005, the government of North Korea admitted publicly for the first time that it possesses nuclear weapons.

In July 2006, North Korea launched seven missiles—including the Taepodong-2—which landed in the Sea of Japan close to Russian coastal areas. On Oct. 9, the country announced it had successfully carried out a test detonation of a nuclear weapon.

In February 2007, North Korea reached an agreement with the U.S. under the framework of the six-party talks that would result in North Korea suspending its nuclear weapons program within 60 days. In exchange, the country would receive one million tonnes of fuel oil, economic assistance, and humanitarian aid, all worth around $400 million U.S. The deal would also normalize diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In July 2007, the North Korean government dismantled the Yongbyon nuclear reactor, utilized to make weapons. In October, it announced it would disable its nuclear facilities and disclose information on all of its nuclear programs to international monitors by the end of 2007. However, the deadline for the disclosure was not met.

In October 2007, then South Korean president Roh Moo Hyun met with Kim for the second edition of an inter-Korean summit. Both leaders agreed to work on bi-lateral trade and economic initiatives, and to draft a document that would put an official end to the Korean War.

In May 2008, the North Korean government provided a massive number of documents containing information on its nuclear-weapon activities in 1990, 2003, and 2005 to American officials. Other information, such as its uranium-enriching program and efforts to sell nuclear material, were not included in the folios.

2008 Supreme People’s Assembly Election

Elections in North Korea take place every five years. The next ballot is tentatively scheduled for Aug. 5.

In late May, John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for the U.S. presidency, accused current U.S. president George W. Bush of having weakened the country’s position to negotiate with North Korea, saying that Bush "greatly softened his position", and adding that the U.S. must "return to Bush's original demand of a complete, verifiable, irreversible disarmament of North Korea's nuclear programs."

On May 28, Lim Dong-won—a former unification minister in South Korea—called for current South Korean president Lee Myung-bak to adopt the bilateral declarations of cooperation signed by the two Koreas in the October 2007 summit, saying, "President Lee should clearly show that he accepts the June 15 and October 4 declarations as soon as possible and try to restore inter-Korean relations for the peace and stability of the peninsula. (…) It has been three months since the new government took power, but up to this point all it seems to be capable of is repeating slogans from the presidential election."

Political Players

Eternal president: Kim Il Song (d. 1994)
Chairman of the National Defense Commission: Kim Jong-il - CND
Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly: Kim Yong-nam - CND

Legislative Branch: The Choe Ko In Min Hoe Ui (Supreme People's Assembly) has 687 members, elected to five-year terms.

Results of Last Election:

Supreme People’s Assembly - Aug. 3, 2003

687 candidates belonging to the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland ran uncontested. The Front consists of the Workers Party of Korea (CND), the Korean Social Democratic Party (CS) and the Chondoist Chongu Party (CC).

 

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