The North Korean Supreme People's Assembly convened on Wednesday, opening the sixth meeting of its eleventh session.

The assembly is expected to deliberate on last year's settlement of accounts and this year's budget plan. Observers are particularly interested in whether it will mention the North's ties with the United States and South Korea.

In the first meeting of the current session, which was held in September 2003, Pyongyang approved its Foreign Ministry's measures on the nuclear issue with Washington.

The meeting that opens Wednesday will also likely cover how to implement tasks set out by the North in its New Year's editorial.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il attended the parliamentary meeting last year but did not in 2006.