North Korea’s parliament to hold rare meeting

SEOUL: North Korea will hold a rare parliamentary session next month, state media reported yesterday, as regional tensions intensify following the nucleararmed state’s recent missile tests.

The country’s legislative body meets only once or twice a year, mostly for day- long sessions to rubber- stamp budgets or other decisions deemed necessary by the ruling Workers’ Party.

The last meeting was held in June 2016 when North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un was elected chairman of a new, supreme governing commission — underlining his absolute control over every aspect of state policy.

“The fifth session of the 13th Supreme People’s Assembly will be convened in Pyongyang on April 11,” the official KCNA news agency said.

As usual it gave no other details, including the session’s agenda. Such meetings are carefully monitored by observers for any changes to economic policy or a reshuff le of high- ranking officials.

The upcoming session comes against the backdrop of rising international alarm over Pyongyang’s military ambitions.

The impoverished North carried out a series of missile launches and nuclear tests last year, and earlier this month it fired four rockets in what it described as practise for an attack on US military bases in Japan. — AFP