▲ This file photo from the Korean Central News Agency shows voters participating in parliamentary elections on March 10, 2019. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

N Korea-parliamentary election

N. Korea rallies voters ahead of next week's parliamentary elections

SEOUL, March 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Tuesday urged voter participation ahead of next week's parliamentary elections, the first such polls in seven years, calling them an "important event" to strengthen the national social system.

The Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's most widely read newspaper, described parliamentary elections set for Sunday as an "important starting point" in implementing the new goals adopted at last month's ninth congress of the Workers' Party of Korea.

"It's an important event aimed at strengthening our most superior people-held sovereignty and further solidifying the national social system by electing genuine representatives of the people according to their will and demands," the newspaper said.

The campaign comes as North Korea is set to elect new members of the Supreme People's Assembly on Sunday, following last month's party congress, aimed at supporting the implementation of key policies and plans adopted at the congress.

The paper described the country's election system as giving equal rights to all people as "the owners of the country," and as "most popular and democratic." However, voting is widely seen as largely a formality in the strictly regulated country.

Typically only a single candidate runs in each constituency in the country.

While voters are required to place the ballot in the ballot box if they approve of a candidate, they must draw a line through the candidate's name if they oppose, a process that effectively makes the voting non-secret.

North Korea typically holds parliamentary elections every five years, but the upcoming vote will mark the first since 2019.

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