Daily Times

North Korea´s rubber-stamp parliament has passed decisions made by a major ruling party meeting where leader Kim Jong Un vowed to bolster his nuclear deterrent and established plans to salvage a dismal economy.

The North´s Korean Central News Agency said Monday that members of the Supreme People´s Assembly during Sunday´s meeting unanimously supported the development plans for the next five years that were revealed during the Workers´ Party congress that ended last week.

The assembly also approved a major reshuffle of the Cabinet, which Kim had criticized over failures in economic policies. KCNA said six of the Cabinet´s eight premiers were replaced.

North Korean premier Kim Tok Hun, who has led the Cabinet since August after his predecessor was sacked, said during a speech at the assembly that “serious mistakes” were observed while the Cabinet implemented the previous five-year development plan that ended last year.

Reports and images from state media suggested Kim Jong Un did not attend the assembly. State media also didn´t mention a reshuffling of the State Affairs Commission, the government´s highest decision-making body that is led by Kim.

Meetings of the Supreme People´s Assembly are usually brief, annual affairs that are intended to approve budgets, formalize personnel changes and rubber-stamp policy priorities set by Kim and the ruling party leadership.