North Korea reportedly convened a key parliamentary meeting in Pyongyang without leader Kim Jong-un.

According to the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) on Thursday, the eighth session of the 14th Supreme People's Assembly(SPA) was held on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang.

With Kim absent from the meeting, the chair of the Standing Committee of the SPA, Choe Ryong-hae, delivered the opening address.

The SPA session reviewed last year's spending and compiled this year's budget, which increased by one-point-seven percent on-year.

The KCNA said that in addition to the budget talks, the participants discussed policy tasks and adopted a law to preserve and promote the cultural language of Pyongyang as part of efforts to prevent external influence from affecting the North's population.

The SPA is nominally the highest law-making body under the North Korean constitution but effectively functions as a rubber-stamp parliament.

[Photo : YONHAP News]