By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter
North Korea officially stated in its new Constitution that the chairman of the National Defense Commission (NDC) is its "supreme leader."
The Constitution, revised in April for the first time since 1998, included several articles that refer to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il as supreme leader and define his role and authority, Yonhap News reported yesterday.
Article 100 of the Constitution says, "The NDC chairman is the supreme leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Kim currently serves as the head of the commission."
Kim is the most powerful figure in the reclusive communist nation, but it is the first time the North's Constitution has stipulated this. DPRK is the North's official name.
The revision also states that the NDC chairman oversees the entire national business, appoints and dismisses major figures in the military sector, and also ratifies or abolishes important treaties with foreign nations.
The NDC head, whose tenure is the same as that of the Supreme People's Assembly, the North's parliament, can declare a state of emergency or war, according to the basic law.
The constitutional revision came amid reports that Kim is suffering from health problems and is also preparing to hand over the throne to his third and youngest son, Jong-un.
The revision places more weight on Kim's military-first policy and his support for "socialism" instead of the "communism" advocated by his late father, Kim Il-sung.
It also said that the DPRK "respects and protects" the human rights of its citizens, a claim experts say reflects a change in Pyongyang's tactics in dealing with the international community's unrelenting condemnation of its human rights abuses.
Article 8 says, "The state respects and protects the human rights of the workers, peasants and working intellectuals."
The earlier vision adopted in 1998 only stated that the North "defends and protects" their interests.
North Korea experts said the reclusive nation seems to be taking a preemptive step to counter the world's criticism of its human rights record.
Last week, the Obama administration named Robert King, a former aide to the late Rep. Tom Lantos, as its special envoy for North Korean human rights.
U.S. Democrats have traditionally demanded that Washington include Pyongyang's human rights issue in the denuclearization negotiations.
jj@koreatimes.co.kr
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