North Korea has convened the Supreme People’s Assembly for the second time this year, following the first one in April. The North held the third session of the 12th Supreme People’s Assembly on June 7 at the Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang. It is equivalent to the National Assembly in South Korea. According to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency and the Korean Central Broadcasting Station, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il attended the parliamentary session, in which Jang Song-thaek, a member of the National Defense Commission, was promoted to vice head of the commission, while a number of Cabinet officials, including the premier, were replaced. The latest session is considered very unusual, since the Supreme People’s Assembly is typically held once a year since the launch of the Kim Jong-il regime, with the exception of the year of 2003. Here’s Professor Yu Ho-yeol from the North Korean Studies Department at Korea University.

The Supreme People’s Assembly reconvened only two months after the previous session was held in April. The North’s parliament’s main job is to revise part of the Constitution and approve budget bills. In a rare second such meeting for this year, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il executed a major personnel reshuffle that he hadn’t conducted during the regular session two months ago. During the past two months, Kim traveled to China to hold the North Korea-China summit, and experts predict that North Korea’s mid-and long-term economic development plans will take shape in the near future. But first, North Korea seems to be seeking social and economic stability with this personnel shake-up, which should be executed at the parliamentary session. That is why the North Korean leader showed up at the unusual yet important session.

The Cabinet reshuffle is interpreted as a measure to ease growing public discontent in the wake of North Korea’s currency reform late last year. It seems that the North concluded that it would be hard for the incumbent Cabinet to resolve the nation’s economic difficulties and to attain the goal of building a “prosperous North Korea” by 2012. In the reshuffle, Premier Kim Yong-il was replaced by Choe Yong-rim, chief secretary of the Pyongyang City Committee of the Workers’ Party. In addition, the Supreme People’s Assembly dismissed six Cabinet officials, while appointing nine new ministers, mostly in economic areas. New premier Choe Yong-rim, in particular, was a close aide of former North Korean leader Kim Il-sung, and he has deeply involved in various economic policies. Based on the trust he has enjoyed among the North Korean leadership spanning from the former leader to current leader Kim Jong-il, Choe is expected to push for strong economic policies.

Choe has played an important role since he served former leader Kim Il-sung, who placed full confidence in Choe and recognized his abilities. He served as a chief secretary as many as three times for Kim senior. Choe also worked as vice premier and directed the National Planning Committee in the 1990s. Most recently, he delivered an address at a mass rally in Pyongyang last month. In brief, Choe has played a crucial part in developing a planned economy or a socialist economy in North Korea.

Choe has played an important role since he served former leader Kim Il-sung, who placed full confidence in Choe and recognized his abilities. He served as a chief secretary as many as three times for Kim senior. Choe also worked as vice premier and directed the National Planning Committee in the 1990s. Most recently, he delivered an address at a mass rally in Pyongyang last month. In brief, Choe has played a crucial part in developing a planned economy or a socialist economy in North Korea.

We have to watch how the situation may unfold. Jang Song-thaek has taken good care of Kim Jong-il’s three sons—Jong-nam, Jong-chul and Jong-un. The youngest Jong-un has yet to accumulate a sufficient political career, so the heir-apparent needs a kind of guardian group that will lend full support for him within the party and the military. Jang, who has visited South Korea before, is relatively well known to Seoul. He is considered to be the right person to follow Kim Jong-il’s wish and stabilize the power succession process.

Meanwhile, many experts had wondered if the North’s parliament would announce its position on the Cheonan incident. As the parliamentary session came at a time when the U.N. Security Council began to discuss this matter, some speculated that Pyongyang would express its position. If the parliament had, it may have a significant impact on inter-Korean relations. However, it doesn’t seem North Korea discussed this issue during the recent session. On the contrary, with the personnel reshuffle in North Korea, Professor Yu raises a possibility of an improvement in inter-Korean ties.

Through the massive Cabinet reshuffle and the appointment of Jang Song-thaek, North Korea seeks to justify its power succession. On top of that, the North must improve relations with Seoul to some degree for the sake of political stability. On the economic front, it is very important for the reclusive country to pursue economic cooperation not only with China but also with South Korea. The major shift in the North Korea Cabinet shows an increasing need for mending relations with South Korea. New vice chairman Jang Song-thaek is relatively well-versed in South Korean affairs. I see some possibility of an improvement in bilateral ties.

In the wake of the sinking of the Cheonan naval ship, South and North Korea have maintained hard-line positions and bilateral economic cooperation has contracted. If the latest reshuffle in North Korea means a major shift toward the official power transfer and economic recovery, as predicted, North Korea must ease the ongoing tensions with Seoul first. We hope to see the new North Korean officials playing positive roles in improving inter-Korean ties.



[Interview] College Admission Fair for Teenage N. Korean Defectors
On May 26, a special event took place in a hall at Ewha Campus Complex at Ewha Womans University. It was a briefing session and fair on next year’s college admission requirements for teenage defectors from North Korea. The young defectors are, not surprisingly, rather unfamiliar with the college entrance system in South Korea, but they are offered a chance to get some information through this annual fair for college admissions. Let’s meet with Lee Gyu-hyang) of the Korean Educational Development Institute, the host of this event.

Usually, North Korean teenagers hoping to enter universities after graduating high school either in South Korea or North Korea or after taking a qualification exam are not well informed on South Korea’s college entrance system. To help them get over this barrier, we organized a fair aimed at providing information on various questions about college admissions. Here, officials from a number of universities explain their respective guidelines for admission and offer counseling to teenage defectors.

Unlike South Korean students who take the College Scholastic Aptitude Test before entering universities, young defectors from North Korea are accepted into college through a special screening process in which they submit a letter of self-introduction and study plans and have individual interviews. For a more useful assistance for North Korean newcomers, however, Ms. Lee stresses the importance of a fair like this, on top of the special screening process.

Many defector students go to college, thanks to the special selection process. Actually, a number of North Korean students benefit from state scholarships. Relatively easier admissions and a lighter financial burden enable many North Korean students to get into universities. But the problem is that most students have very little information about what departments each university has and exactly what they can do after studying a particular major. As a result, they find it difficult to plan for their future. It’s good to offer them a better chance to go to college, but we need to make more efforts to help them ponder what they will study in college and complete the required course well to eventually become upstanding members of South Korean society.

At this year’s college entrance fair, a new session was organized to explain detailed procedures of college admission and relevant strategies so the North Korean students can prepare for college entrance in a more pragmatic way. Also, a user-created video was screened to help the students experience college culture indirectly. But the participants were most attracted by counseling booths erected by a total of 36 schools, including four-year universities and two-year colleges. Not only North Korean students but also officials from each school are becoming increasingly interested in this college admission fair year after year.

I’m Kim Hye-seon, an official from Seoul Women’s University. I came here to give details about some departments the students are curious about and explain how they can apply for this school and what they must prepare. Even South Korean college graduates have a hard time getting jobs, and teenagers from North Korea are very worried about the tight job market. So they prefer departments offering a higher chance of getting promising jobs, such as nursing and design. Some are paying attention to public administration.

This year, too, the fair proved greatly helpful for North Korean students who have a thirst for information about college admission. We hope assistance and opportunities will be offered in a more diversified way so the young students from North Korea, who will lead a unified Korea, can dream of a hopeful future and explore infinite possibilities.