INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
North Korea's parliament has met to rubber-stamp Kim Jong Un's policies, but the leader himself was conspicuously absent as he prepares
for two key summits with South Korea and the US.Kim had been present at six out of eight previous Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) sessions
held since he officially became party head six years ago, according to the South's Unification Ministry.But he appeared to skip
Wednesday's meeting, with the official KCNA news agency failing to mention his attendance in its report of the meeting Thursday.Photos
carried by the North's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed an empty seat at the centre of the head table in Pyongyang's cavernous
Mansudae Assembly Hall, presumed to be Kim's .Instead, the session focussed on North Korea's budget and changes in leadership
later.On Monday he briefed party members on talks with the South and the "prospect" of dialogue with the US, in an unusually well-publicised
politburo meeting.Officials in the South had earlier said they were watching the SPA closely for "any changes to policy directions".But KCNA
reports on the meeting focussed on budgetary matters, with the nuclear-armed state's national defence allocation remaining almost
unchanged at 15.9 percent."It appears Kim did not attend because he can't issue a special message given the current volatile situation," Koh
Yu-hwan, professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University, told AFP, referring to the upcoming summits.But the detailed state media
reports of Monday's politburo meeting mean North Koreans "will assume their leader is trying to improve external relations", he added.At
the SPA, the North also confirmed that Hwang Pyong So -- once seen as one of Kim's closest aides -- had been "dismissed" from his post as
the vice chairman of the State Affairs Commission along with three other officials.Seoul's spy agency said last year that Hwang and Kim
Won Hong, the head and deputy head of the military's powerful General Political Bureau, had been punished for showing "impudence" towards
the party.All of the dismissals were made "at the proposal of the chairman of the State Affairs Commission", a post held by Kim Jong Un.The
SPA is technically North Korea's highest state institution.But votes at the rubber-stamp institution are invariably unanimous, with
delegates from across the country travelling to Pyongyang simply to listen to speeches and wave through decisions by a show of hands.(Except
for the headline, this story has not been edited by staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
