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North Korea to revise constitution

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Officials in North Korea announced Thursday that the country would revise its constitution. The announcement came during a meeting of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) attended by the country's leader, Kim Jong-Il. According to the North Korean state media outlet Korea Central News Agency (KCNA), the measure to "approve and supplement" the constitution was approved by a unanimous vote of the SPA. The SPA meeting was Kim's first public appearance since August 2008, when he was rumored to have suffered a stroke. The decision to revise the constitution has been interpreted as a move to arrange a plan of succession for the leadership of the country. North Korea recently launched long-range test missile, sparking an international outcry and possible UN sanctions. The country has also come under fire for the detention and prosecution of two American journalists alleged to have illegally entered North Korea from China. North Korea has been accused of using the captured journalists as pawns in policy disputes with the US. North Korea has ranked among the countries with the least protection for press freedoms. The North Korean regime has been the subject of considerable international pressure over its refusal to fully disclose its past nuclear activity. The US removed North Korea from the State Department's list of terror sponsors in October after former president George W. Bush agreed to the step following the communist state's handover of a report on its nuclear program to China, one of the countries participating in the so-called Six Party Talks on the North Korean program. In February 2007, North Korea agreed to end its nuclear weapons program, shut down and seal any reactors, and completely declare the extent of its nuclear activities in exchange for 50,000 tons of heavy fuel.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on April 09, 2009 (boomark / email).