State Affairs Commission of North Korea


The State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is defined by the 2016 constitution as "the supreme policy-oriented leadership body of State power."
The current chairman of the SAC, which is defined by the same constitution as the supreme leader of the nation, is Kim Jong-un.

History

The National Defence Commission was created in 1972 as per the 1972 Constitution, originally the commission's mandate was to supervise national defense matters within North Korea.
Per the 4th plenary session of the Supreme People's Assembly in June 2016 the National Defence Commission was officially replaced by the State Affairs Commission, with an expanded focus towards other national concerns aside from defense and security.

Powers and responsibilities

Article 106 of the Constitution of North Korea defines the State Affairs Commission as the supreme state organ of policy direction of state sovereignty. Article 109 of the Constitution states that the SAC's powers are to:
In practice, SAC supervises the Cabinet of North Korea. It also directly supervises the three ministries that are not under the Cabinet, namely the Ministry of People's Armed Forces, Ministry of State Security and the Ministry of Social Security as well as the Korean People's Army, mainly the General Staff Department of the Korean People's Army and General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army. The Supreme Guard Command which is responsible for the top leadership and government protection is also under its command. One additional entity, the State Physical Culture and Sports Guidance Commission, is also under the SAC as its Chairman is appointed by the Commission.

Members

The following are the current members of the State Affairs Commission as of its election by the 14th Supreme People's Assembly on 11 April 2019:

List of members since 2016

The following is the list of members of the State Affairs Commission since its first election on 29 June 2016. Names in bold indicates that they are a current member of the State Affairs Commission. Names are listed in their order of election.

Works cited