Today marked the first session of the North
Korean state legislature elected since the beginning of the Kim Jong Eun era. However, Daily
NK has received word of widespread indifference to this fact. The Supreme People’s Assembly, or SPA, is perceived as a tool of elite politics divorced from ordinary lives.
Tenets of domestic and foreign policy are both ratified
during annual sessions of the SPA, as are
economic planning documents. However, sources say that most people long ago
gave up taking an interest in any of it, since the state has an abysmal record of
failing to implement its plans, and therefore SPA sessions have little or
no measurable impact on livelihoods.
“We have recently been having People’s Unit meetings
concerning the 1st session of the [13th] SPA, but the people have no
interest whatsoever in politics, only in whether or not the state is going to
give them distribution [of food and other essential goods],” a source in Yangkang Province told Daily NK this
afternoon. “Few people see any reason to care about it; they just know that
there is some kind of meeting on today.”
“People actually worry about things like how they’re going
to survive,” the source went on to point out. “Anyone who takes an interest in
the SPA is seen as strange. People reckon that if delegates could ‘yay’ or
‘nay’ things at will then that would be different; then they might be excited
to see what the results would be. But it isn’t at all like that, is it.”
Pyongsung in South Pyongan Province may be considerably
nearer the center of power in Pyongyang than distant Yangkang Province, but a source from the city conveyed
identical sentiment. He reported that people there are largely unaware that
the SPA session is happening, too. Day-to-day life dominates once more.
“This is a tough season in terms of food, and people are only worrying about that,” he explained. “They don’t even know that they’re having
the meeting.”
Interestingly, the Yangkang Province source also reported
that propaganda surrounding recent concerts in the region by the Moranbong Band
is more intense than that relating to the SPA. However, it also bears little relationship to
the facts on the ground.
She explained, “From one down to ten, we are obliged to do whatever
the Upper [state authorities] tell us. So I doubt the SPA would be any
different. Equally, in the case of the Moranbong Band concerts they select
units to go and watch. The newspaper reports it like all citizens are there,
but people here just snort at that.”
According to the source, certain enterprises and factory units are told to select people to attend the concerts. Ordinary, unaffiliated citizens may not
attend.
