15th Supreme People's Assembly

The assembly confirmed the 15th Cabinet of North Korea and re-appointed Kim Jong Un as the President of the 15th State Affairs Commission.

The following individuals were elected as members of 15th SPA:^[1][2]

The first session of the 15th SPA is being held from 22 March 2026. On 22 March, the first day of the session, Jo Yong-won was elected as the chairman of the SPA Standing Committee, while Kim Hyong-sik and Ri Son-gwon were elected as vice chairs. Kim Jong Un was re-elected as the president of the State Affairs. Following his re-election, Kim proposed the remainder of the State Affairs Commission leadership and membership, who were then elected by the SPA. Pak Thae-song was re-elected as premier. He then proposed members of the cabinet, who were elected unanimously. Kim Chol-won was elected as the chief prosecutor, while Choe Kun-yong was elected as the chief justice of the Supreme Court. The day concluded with the election of the SPA committees for key sectors including legislation, foreign affairs and the budget.^[3]

On 23 March, the second day of the session, the constitution of North Korea was amended. Changes included dropping the word "Socialist" from the "Socialist Constitution". The SPA also passed "unanimous" resolutions on the state budget and the new five-year strategy decided at the 9th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea held in February 2026. Premier Pak Thae-song also delivered a report on the work of the cabinet. Kim Jong Un gave a speech during the meeting. He devoted most of his speech to domestic policy issues. He called for establishing North Korea's first "police" force by reorganizing the Ministry of Social Security, stating "Establishing a police system is an essential requirement of state operation, and originally the word ‘police’ itself is not a bad thing". He said he wanted to "subdivide and specialize the spheres of legal struggle in order to carry out public security maintenance work at a higher level" to "clearly demarcate the boundaries of work among legal organs domestically” and ensure smooth coordination". He called on inminban to more vigilantly report "anti-socialist phenomena", and identified "avoidance of responsibility, self-protectionism, formalism, lack of scientific rigor … bureaucratism and abuse of authority" as social problems. Regarding the economy, Kim promoted his 20x10 Policy and said the government would build 370,000 new homes across the country, including 80,000 in mining towns in the next four years. He also promised "regular guarantee of rest and vacations for working people" as well as more tourist resorts. He also declared North Korea was working to fix healthcare and population growth issues.^[4]

Kim declared that "our state is no longer a country that is threatened" and that it "possesses the strength (nuclear weapons) to threaten others if necessary". He said that due to this new security, he had begun directing "national capacity and resources toward the struggle of improving the quality of life and promoting the welfare of the people, which could not even have been imagined in the past". Kim said that North Korea would "permanently and irreversibly consolidate the possession of nuclear weapons and reject "the sweet talk of the enemy". He called the United States a "dominationist" country that is "currently perpetrating state terrorism and acts of aggression throughout the world", which he said was giving rise to "anti-American sentiment". He added that "South Korea will be recognized as the most hostile state and will be thoroughly rejected, ignored and dealt with in the most explicit words and actions", continuing by saying "For any act of South Korea touching our Republic, without the slightest consideration or the smallest hesitation, we will make it pay the price mercilessly". He called on diplomatic cadres to maintain "friendly relations" with traditional partners, but added "it is necessary to break away from diplomatic practices calibrated to outdated old standards and old measures from the past".^[4]

A performance celebrating the outcome of the gathering of the new convocation was held at the foot of Mansu Hill with the participation of the top leadership.^[5]