Political rumbling in Pyongyang
By Akihiro Ito
Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent
August 5, 1998SEOUL--Elections for North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly, or parliament, were held on July 26, for the first time in eight years. Election authorities announced on July 27 that all of the 687 candidates had been elected.
Under North Korea’s election law, as with its Japanese and U.S. counterparts, more than one candidate can run in a constituency. In one candidate who is chosen in advance runs per constituency, making elections effectively a vote of confidence.
According to defectors, voters actually have no choice. Voting stations are monitored, and if a person draws a line through a candidate’s name—meaning a vote of no confidence—it immediately draws attention.
With an official campaign having been waged urging voters to "cast ballots without fail and have 100 percent trust in the candidates," it is natural that no voter dreamed of marking out a name. It thus comes as no surprise that North Korean authorities announced a "confidence rite" of 100 percent.
Although the election might seem like a mere formality, experts in South Korea and Japan find great significance in its having been held—namely, it is expected that the next president will be chosen at the first meeting of the Supreme People’s Assembly following the election.
The presidency has remained vacant for four years since the death of Kim Il Sung—founder of the North—in July1994.
According to Radiopress, which monitors North Korean radio broadcasts and reports on them to the Japanese mass media, the assembly has not been convened since April 1994 and there is no way to know anything concrete about the national budget.
South Korean experts on the North say that Korean Workers Party General Secretary Kim Jong Il has run the government through "directives" in his capacity as supreme commander of the military. However, the processes involved in policymaking remain unclear and this has sparked distrust in neighboring countries, such as South Korea and Japan.
If a president is chosen and the assembly resumes functioning, at least immediate policies and priorities will become clearer.
Lee Jong Seok, a researcher at the Sejong Institute, a South Korean organization studying the North; said the election "was a turning point marking the normalization of state functions" and thus had great meaning.
Following the election, the focus of attention among North Korea watchers has shifted to whether Kim Jong Il will assume the presidency as predicted.
The most likely scenario is that the assembly will convene around Sept. 9—the 50th anniversary of the North’s foundation—and Kim will assume the post at that time.
North Korea’s state-run broadcasting organization reported on July 31 that committees had been set up in African countries, such as the Congo Republic, supporting Kim for the presidency. It appears a foregone conclusion that he will assume the post.
However, some are taking a cautious view because of the lack of disclosure in the North. South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which is in charge of South-North issues, feels that Kim is likely to assume the presidency next month. However, an official said the ministry had no choice but "to consider things with a bit of common sense because of the lack of information."
ln addition, experts point to the unusual manner in which Kim was named general secretary in October 1997—through a "recommendation" by local governments and the military.
In the 1970s, he was said to have taken a leading role in the fields of culture and art, coming up with theories of his own on the subjects.
Some foreign correspondents in South Korea said he could end up surprising they world.
Return to our
Page Back to Korea
Added August 9, 1998
