Pyongyang, March 23 (KCNA) — The First Session of the 15th Supreme People’s Assembly of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was opened in the capital city of Pyongyang at a historic time when all the people across the country have courageously turned out in the patriotic struggle to usher in a new heyday of steady leap forward and development of our great state, true to the decisions of the Ninth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea.

For the past seven years since the First Session of the 14th SPA was held, the DPRK’s supreme power body has thoroughly embodied the WPK’s original ideas of state building, independent revolutionary line and people-first principle in its activities and fulfilled its mission and duty entrusted by the Constitution in a responsible manner in response to the demand of the era of great transformation, thus firmly guaranteeing legally and institutionally the implementation of the policies of the Party and the state for the comprehensive prosperity and development.

The first-day sitting of the First Session of the 15th SPA was held on March 22.

The session was convened to further consolidate the state power and provide a solid legal foundation for socialist construction at a new stage. It was attended by the newly-elected SPA deputies and, as observers, officials concerned from Pyongyang and provinces including those of the Central Committee of the WPK, the SPA Standing Committee, the Cabinet, commissions, ministries, national agencies and armed forces organs.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un was present at the session.

When Kim Jong Un appeared at the venue of the session, all the participants welcomed with enthusiastic applause the peerlessly great man, the leader of the people who with his great ideas and outstanding political caliber, put the absolute dignity and national power of our state on the peak of the century and ushered in a new era of great prosperity in which the people’s ideal and eternal happiness are realized in a comprehensive way.

Leading officials of the state took the platform.

Deputy Ko Kil Son, secretary general of the SPA Standing Committee, made an opening address.

When the session was declared open, the DPRK national anthem was played.

There was a speech by Choe Ryong Hae, chairman of the Standing Committee of the 14th SPA and chairman of the preparatory committee for the First Session of the 15th SPA.

He referred with pride to the great honor of his life when he has personally experienced the greatness of the ideas and leadership of Comrade Kim Jong Un while working as the chairman of the Standing Committee of the 14th SPA which witnessed the opening of the era of great transformation unprecedented in the history of the development of the DPRK spanning nearly 80 years.

He recalled with deep emotion the achievements made by the 14th SPA in its sovereign activities, true to the intention of the Party Central Committee, including the enactment and amendment and supplement of hundreds of laws to perpetuate the position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state, give fuller play to the advantages of the Korean-style socialist system and promote the comprehensive development of the state, and innovative change in the state political activities of the deputies.

He stressed it is absolute truth he realized working as the chairman of the Standing Committee that the eternal prosperity and mightiness of our country and the promotion of the wellbeing of all the people in the country can be ensured only when we remain single-mindedly faithful to the state-building ideas and leadership of Kim Jong Un.

Expressing his regret for failing to repay the great trust of the Party and the expectation of the state and the people with greater successes, he earnestly asked all the deputies to glorify the days of the 15th Supreme People’s Assembly as the ones of honor keeping pace with the Ninth Party Central Committee, true to the great Comrade Kim Jong Un’s grand plan for building a powerful country and his noble intention to make devoted service for the people’s wellbeing.

The session expressed thanks to outgoing Chairman Choe Ryong Hae who made a significant contribution to implementing the policies of the Party and the state during his term of office and encouraged the deputies to the 15th SPA.

The session elected the chairman and vice-chairmen of the Supreme People’s Assembly before discussing agenda items.

Deputy Jo Yong Won was elected as chairman of the Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK and deputies Kim Hyong Sik and Ri Son Gwon as its vice-chairmen.

Deputy Jo Yong Won made a pledge to be always aware of his mission and duty before the Party and the people, remain faithful to the leadership of the great Comrade Kim Jong Un and the Constitution of the DPRK and make selfless, devoted efforts for the realization of the people-first policy of the WPK and the prosperity and development of the state, bearing in mind the trust and expectation of the deputies for him to make single-minded efforts for the prosperity of the country and its people with warm love for and boundless devotion to the country and the people as the chairman of the Supreme People’s Assembly.

The chairman of the Supreme People’s Assembly presided over the session.

The following agenda items were brought up for discussion at the First Session of the 15th Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK:

First, on the election of the President of the State Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

Second, on the election of the state leadership bodies of the DPRK

Third, on the election of the sectional committees of the Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK

Fourth, on the amendment and supplement to the Socialist Constitution of the DPRK

Fifth, on the thorough implementation of the five-year plan for national economic development set forth by the Ninth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea

Sixth, on the fulfillment of the state budget of the DPRK for 2025 and on the state budget for 2026

The session discussed the first agenda item.

The deputies to the SPA were extremely excited as they would represent the will of the people across the country at the most responsible time for the future of the country and the people and the prospects of the Juche cause.

Deputy Ri Il Hwan made a proposal for the election of the President of the State Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The dignity and mightiness of the DPRK, directly linked to the destiny of tens of millions of Korean people, are unthinkable apart from the high prestige and leadership of the state leader, and the historic task of making the great pioneering period of national rejuvenation lead on to an everlasting heyday can be carried out only by the leadership of the prominent head of state, he said, adding that the agenda item is very weighty and crucial but our choice of decision on it is very clear.

He courteously proposed to the current Supreme People’s Assembly to entrust Kim Jong Un with the heavy responsibility as President of the State Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea again for the eternal mightiness of the DPRK and the new era of its prosperity and for the descendants who will always lead a happy life under his care, representing the general will of all the people who unanimously trust and follow him who has given socialist Korea the great dignity, honor and glory and defended the destiny of the people and bears the responsibility for even the future of all generations to come.

All the participants expressed full support and approval for the proposal representing the unanimous will and ardent desire of all the people and service personnel across the country with the stormy cheers of “Hurrah!” and applause.

The Supreme People’s Assembly solemnly declared that Kim Jong Un, who is leading the cause of building a powerful socialist country only to sure victory with his gifted ideological and theoretical wisdom and rare and outstanding leadership practice, was elected President of the State Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

His election as the head of state of the DPRK makes it possible for the DPRK and its people to glorify their sacred dignity and honor forever and more dynamically advance toward the goal of achieving the just and far-reaching ideal and prosperity with the outstanding ideology and political power and the invincible force of the harmonious whole.

The session elected the state leadership bodies as the second agenda item.

Kim Jong Un proposed a motion to form the State Affairs Commission.

The session elected the deputies, proposed by the President of the State Affairs of the DPRK, as first vice-president, vice-president and members of the State Affairs Commission.

It elected chairman, vice-chairmen, secretary general and members of the SPA Standing Committee of the DPRK.

And it elected the premier of the DPRK Cabinet.

Deputy Pak Thae Song, elected as premier of the Cabinet, proposed members of the Cabinet upon authorization of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, and they were appointed with full approval.

The session appointed the director of the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office and elected the president of the Supreme Court.

Premier of the DPRK Cabinet Pak Thae Song, on behalf of his Cabinet members, took an oath to be loyal to the Constitution of the DPRK and live up to the trust and expectation of the Party and the people with remarkable results.

He vowed that the Cabinet would hold fast to it as a basic task for the socialist economic construction to lay the developmental foundations for the stable and sustainable growth in the country’s economy and substantially improve the people’s living standards, in accordance with the general goal and principle of development of the Ninth Central Committee of the WPK, and make sure that the guidance and management by the Cabinet-Responsibility System, Cabinet-Centred System prove successful in ceaselessly bringing about upsurges in the new phase for the comprehensive development.

He solemnly promised the current Supreme People’s Assembly and all the people that he would fulfill his heavy mission as the premier of the Cabinet in a responsible manner, deeply mindful of the heavy responsibility for the economic work of the country at a crucial time when the era of a new upsurge and a new change of the Juche revolution is being ushered in.

The session elected the Legislative Committee, the Budget Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee, the sectional committees of the Supreme People’s Assembly, through the discussion of the third agenda item.