The
State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
(
SAC
) is constitutionally the supreme political authority of
North Korea
.
[1]
The State Affairs Commission was created by 2016 amendments to the
North Korean Constitution
to replace the previously military-dominated
National Defence Commission
.
The body is headed by the
President of the State Affairs Commission
, commonly styled in official North Korean released as "President of State Affairs", who is defined as the
head of state
of
the nation
and the
supreme leader
.
[1]
The current President is
Kim Jong Un
. The first vice-president is
Choe Ryong-hae
, who is also the Chairman of the
Supreme People's Assembly Standing Committee
.
History
[
edit
]
The predecessor body, National Defence Commission, was created in 1972 as sub-committee for defence and security affairs of the Supreme People's Committee, the later was headed by the
President of the DPRK
Kim Il Sung
and exercised similar powers within the constitutional framework of the
1972 Constitution of North Korea
.
The National Defence Commission was separated from the Supreme People's Committee in 1992 and
Kim Jong Il
was officially designated as chair of the body. In 1998, two years after the death of Kim Il Sung, the National Defence Commission was empowered as the supreme defence body, and in line with the
Songun ideology
, the supreme political authority of state and legal framework for Kim Jong Il's
personal dictatorship
.
After the
7th Congress
of the
Workers Party of Korea
, the constitution was amended in June 2016 that reformed the National Defence Commission into the contemporary State Affairs Commission, with the amended text stipulating the body's control over national policy.
Powers and responsibilities
[
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]
Article 106 of the
Constitution of North Korea
defines the State Affairs Commission as the supreme state organ of policy direction of state sovereignty.
[2]
Article 109 of the Constitution states that the SAC's powers are to:
[3]
[4]
- deliberate and decide on major policies of the State including defence and security policies;
- exercise supervision over the fulfillment of the orders of the
President of the State Affairs Commission
of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the decisions and directives of the Commission, and take measures for their fulfillment;
- abrogate decisions and directives of State organs which run counter to the orders of the President of the SAC-DPRK and the decisions and directives of the Commission in its meetings.
In practice, SAC supervises the
Cabinet of North Korea
. It also directly supervises the three ministries that are not under the Cabinet, namely the
Ministry of Defence
,
Ministry of State Security
and the
Ministry of Social Security
as well as the
Korean People's Army
, mainly the
General Staff Department of the Korean People's Army
and
General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army
. The
Supreme Guard Command
which is responsible for the top leadership and government protection is also under its command. One additional entity, the
State Physical Culture and Sports Guidance Commission
(國家體育指導委員會), is also under the SAC as its Chairman is appointed by the Commission.
[5]
[6]
Members
[
edit
]
The following are the current members of the State Affairs Commission as of 29 September 2021:
[7]
[8]
[9]
References
[
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]
Works cited
[
edit
]
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Active forces
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Paramilitary and reserve forces
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Senior leadership
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History
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Index of Korea-related articles
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