N. Korea's Kim casts ballot at coal mine constituency in parliamentary elections

▲ North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (L) casts a ballot at a coal mine constituency on March 15, 2026, in elections to pick deputies to the 15th Supreme People's Assembly, in this photo carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency the following day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

▲ North Korean leader Kim Jong-un delivers a speech at a polling station in Chonsong Youth Coal Mine under the Sunchon Area Youth Coal-mining Complex on March 15, 2026, after casting a ballot in elections to pick deputies for the 15th Supreme People's Assembly, in this photo carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency the following day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

N Korea-parliamentary elections

N. Korea's Kim casts ballot at coal mine constituency in parliamentary elections

SEOUL, March 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has cast his ballot at a coal mine constituency in elections to pick deputies for a new term of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA), with voter turnout recorded at 99.99 percent, state media reported Monday.

Kim visited a polling station in Chonsong Youth Coal Mine under the Sunchon Area Youth Coal-mining Complex on Sunday to vote in the elections of deputies to the 15th SPA, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

North Korea typically holds rubber-stamp parliament elections every five years, but Sunday's elections marked the first in seven years as a following up to last month's key party congress.

The North's leader voted for Jo Chol-ho, manager of the youth coal mine who is a SPA deputy candidate, according to the KCNA.

At a speech, Kim stressed that coal is a "driving force" for the country's self-reliant economy, praising workers in the coal industry as the core element of the national development.

"The faster our development accelerates and the more our ideals turns into a reality, the more urgent demand for coal will be," Kim said, highlighting that the nation set a five-year plan to increase coal production by 1.2 times at the ninth party congress.

His speech appears to be aimed at expressing his commitment to revitalizing key industries that use coal as a raw material.

The KCNA said voting was completed at all constituencies across the country as of 6 p.m. Sunday, with voter turnout recorded at 99.99 percent.

The North's leader was accompanied by key officials, including party secretaries Kim Jae-ryong and Ri Il-hwan, as well as his sister, Kim Yo-jong.

Kim had been elected an SPA deputy until the 13th parliamentary elections in 2014 but has not run for the SPA seat since the 14th elections in 2019 under a revision of the constitution.

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