North Korea to convene rubber-stamp parliament

SEOUL: North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament will hold its next session in September where it is set to discuss new laws and other organisational issues, state media said on Monday.

The hermit state’s legislative body meets only once or twice a year, mostly for day-long sessions to approve budgets or other decisions deemed necessary by the ruling Workers’ Party. "The 7th Session of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) of the DPRK will be convened in Pyongyang on September 7," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

"The session will discuss the issue of adopting the law on the socialist rural development and the law on landscaping and the organisational matter," it added. Such meetings are carefully monitored by observers for any changes to economic policy or a reshuffle of high-ranking officials. It is unclear whether leader Kim Jong Un will attend the upcoming meeting. Kim did not attend the last session in February this year.