Supreme People's Assembly

The Supreme People's Assembly (SPA; Korean: 최고인민회의; MR: Ch'oego Inmin Hoeŭi) is the highest state organ of power of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) according to the country's Socialist Constitution. Under the principle of unified power, it is the only branch of government in North Korea, with all state organs subservient to it. In form and function, it parallels the legislature in other countries.

The constitution defines the position of the SPA as central in the country's system, with all institutions and offices - President of the State Affairs, State Affairs Commission, Cabinet, Supreme Court, and Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office, elected by it and subordinated to it.

SPA adopts only a minority of laws, with the most legislative work instead performed by a smaller Standing Committee, which is defined by the Constitution as its permanent organ. The Chairman of the SPA Standing Committee was the country's ceremonial head of state until 2019, and still performs certain activities such as receiving letters of credence from foreign envoys.

The SPA is convened once or twice a year in regular plenary sessions of several days each. The Standing Committee exercises power when the SPA is in recess, which occurs during all but a few days of every year.

The SPA consists of one deputy from each of North Korea's 687 constituencies, elected to five-year terms. The Workers' Party of Korea, which the constitution recognizes as the state's leading party, dominates the Assembly in a monopoly coalition with the Social Democratic Party and the Chondoist Chongu Party. Elections are usually held in five-year intervals, the most recent in 2019.