For the first time in the country's history, North Korea's parliamentary election for the Supreme People's Assembly, held on March 10, did not see the supreme leader "elected" to the SPA. This suggests that constitutional amendments concerning state organs, including the position of Kim Jong Un, will be made at the first session of the 14th SPA on April 11. There is a possibility that North Korea's own unique version of a presidential system will be introduced.
At the outset, this change was presumably a step taken in anticipation of Kim bringing home results from the 2019 U.S.-North Korea Hanoi summit. The direction of North Korea's strategy toward the United States will, therefore, quite likely become apparent around the time the SPA is convened.
Restraint toward the U.S. was mentioned only once at the end of a generally upbeat speech and the original Korean text repeatedly used the wording "we may be compelled," or "we may have no choice but." While it was considered unlikely that North Korea would embark on a "new way" for the reason given in the speech alone, now that North Korea has failed to gain any concessions at the recent summit, the risk of North Korea finding a "new way" also needs to be monitored.
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