Following a recent significant meeting of its governing party, North Korea will select delegates to its national assembly this month, according to official media on Wednesday.
The main focus will be on whether leader Kim Jong Un will be appointed president, the highest position in the state that has long been held by founder and Kim’s late grandfather Kim Il Sung.
Citing a ruling by the parliamentary standing committee, Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) announced that the election of delegates to the rubber-stamp Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) will take place on March 15.
It comes after the once-every-five-years summit of the ruling Workers’ Party, a gathering that directs state efforts on everything from diplomacy to war planning.
Kim has repeatedly vowed to define South Korea as a “hostile” separate state and codify the concept in law.
He described Seoul’s latest peace efforts as a “clumsy deceptive farce and a poor work”.
The SPA is expected to incorporate it into the constitution once the election has taken place.
The announcement comes as speculation mounts over whether US President Donald Trump will seek a meeting with Kim during planned travels to China in April.
As the summit wrapped on February 25, Kim said his country could “get along” with the United States if it accepted Pyongyang’s nuclear status.
The United States has for decades led efforts to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear programme, but summits, sanctions and diplomatic pressure have had little impact.
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