N Korean parliament holds second session this year

North Korea’s parliament convened on Tuesday for the second time in six months, passing a law that adds one year of compulsory education for children in the socialist nation, the first publicly announced policy change under leader Kim Jong-un.

The Supreme People’s Assembly’s second meeting of the year was notable mainly as a departure from how Kim’s father did business. Before he died in December, Kim Jong-il convened his legislature just once in most years, and during one three-year period after his own father’s death it didn’t meet at all.

By adding a year to North Korea’s state-funded educational system, from 11 to 12 years, Kim may be trying to cultivate loyalty among younger generations as he consolidates his power base.

Kim Jong-un himself attended Tuesday’s session, which was adjourned after a single day, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. Foreign reporters were denied access. Video on state TV showed legislators, many of the women in traditional Korean dresses, holding up deputy badges in the vast Mansudae Assembly Hall.

North Korea’s Constitution allows political parties, but politics is overwhelmingly dominated by the Workers’ Party, founded by Kim Il Sung, grandfather of the current ruler. Virtually all legislators are members of the Kims’ party who ran unopposed in the last nationwide election, leading many outside observers to consider the body a rubber stamp for the regime’s policies. A few legislators are from the Chondoist Chongu Party and the Social Democratic Party, both believed to government aligned.

The current 12th parliament formed in 2009 has 687 legislators, or deputies, of which 107 are women. The number of deputies is determined by the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly in proportion to the country’s population.