North Korea reappoints Kim Jong-un as supreme leader

State media said the decision to re-elect Kim to the ‘top post’ reflected ‘the unanimous will and desire of all the Korean people’

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (centre) at the first session of the 15th Supreme People’s Assembly in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Sunday. Photo: KCNA/KNS/AFP

Published: 9:01am, 23 Mar 2026Updated: 5:20pm, 23 Mar 2026

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was reappointed as president of ‌state affairs, state media reported on Monday, after the isolated nation convened the first session of its Supreme People’s Assembly a day earlier.

North Korea’s constitution explicitly states that the president of state affairs is the “supreme leader of the DPRK” who represents the state, which is officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Kim’s reappointment as head of the authoritarian nation’s highest policymaking and governing body, the State Affairs Commission, was announced by the state news agency KCNA.

“The Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK re-elected Comrade Kim Jong-un as President of the State Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea at the First Session, the first state affairs activity of its 15th term, on March 22,” the KCNA report said.

Kim Jong-un votes in an election for the Supreme People’s Assembly on March 15. Photo: KCNA/Reuters

The report said the decision to elect Kim to the “top post” in the North Korean state reflected “the unanimous will and desire of all the Korean people.”

North Korea reappoints Kim Jong-un as supreme leader

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}State media said the decision to re-elect Kim to the ‘top post’ reflected ‘the unanimous will and desire of all the Korean people’

State media said the decision to re-elect Kim to the ‘top post’ reflected ‘the unanimous will and desire of all the Korean people’