North Korea The Executive Branch
The President and Vice Presidents
Kim Il Sung statue, P'yongyang
Courtesy Tracy Woodward
The president is the head of state and the head of government
in his capacity as chairman of the Central People's Committee
(CPC). The president is elected every four years by the SPA. The
title "president" (chusk) was adopted in the 1972
constitution. Before 1972 an approximate equivalent of the
presidency was the chairmanship of the Standing Committee of the
SPA. The constitution has no provisions for removing, recalling,
or impeaching the president, or for limiting the number of terms
of service. On May 24, 1990, the SPA unanimously reelected Kim Il
Sung to a fifth presidential term.
Presidential powers are stated only in generalities. The
chief executive convenes and guides the State Administration
Council as occasion demands. Under the 1972 constitution, he was
also the supreme commander of the armed forces and chairman of
the National Defense Commission--although Kim Il Sung appointed
his son to the former position in December 1991 and to the latter
position in April 1993
(see National Command Authority
, ch. 5).
The president's prior assent is required for all laws, decrees,
decisions, and directives. The president's edicts command the
force of law more authoritatively than any other legislation. The
president promulgates the laws and ordinances of the SPA; the
decisions of the Standing Committee of the SPA; and the laws,
ordinances, and decisions of the CPC. The president also grants
pardons, ratifiers or abrogates treaties, and receives foreign
envoys or requests their recall. No one serves in top government
posts without the president's recommendation. Even the judiciary
and the procurators are accountable to Kim Il Sung.
The constitution states that two vice presidents "assist" the
president, but it does not elaborate a mode of succession. As of
July 1992, Pak Sng-ch'l (elected in 1977) and Yi Chong-k
(elected in 1984) were vice presidents of North Korea.
Data as of June 1993
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