Government of North Korea

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North Korea
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of North Korea

Constitution Juche Eternal President: Kim Il-sung National Defense Commission Chairman: Kim Jong-il Government Premier: Kim Yong-il Supreme People's Assembly President: Kim Yong-nam Subdivisions Judiciary Political parties Workers' Party of Korea Elections: 2003, 2008 Korean reunification Human rights Foreign relations Songun policy
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The North Korean Government is the executive branch of the state, according to the constitution.^[1] In practice, the highest decisions are made by the National Defence Commission of North Korea led by its Chairman Kim Jong-il. The government is confirmed by the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA). The SPA chooses a premier who appoints three vice premiers and the government's ministers. The government is dominated by the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and has been since North Korea's inception in 1948. The Cabinet now has the right to supervise and control the Local People’s Committee (LPC) with regard to local economies and administration. As the State Administrative Council (SAC) was replaced by the Cabinet, the Local Administrative and Economic Committee (LAEC) was abolished and its functions regarding local politics transferred to the LPC. A party chief secretary no longer concurrently holds the post of LPC chairman, which has been taken over by a former LAEC chairman. Thus, the LPC is theoretically independent of the local party and is under the control of the Cabinet. The status of the LPC as the local executive organ, in principle, became higher than before.

The Economist Intelligence Unit, while admitting that "There is no consensus on how to measure democracy" and that "definitions of democracy are contested", lists North Korea in last place as an authoritarian regime in its Democracy Index assessing 167 countries. ^[2]