Eternal President of the Republic
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| Eternal President of the Republic | ||||||||
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The position of Eternal President of the Republic (공화국의 영원한 주석) is established by a line in the preface to the North Korean constitution, amended on September 5, 1998. It reads:
"Under the leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Korean people will hold the great leader Comrade Kim Il-sung in high esteem as the eternal President of the Republic".[1] Thus, it will only ever be held by him.
The line "eternal President of the Republic" only appears in the preface, not in the functional text of the constitution and it is not associated with any government office with particular responsibilities, powers, privileges, etc. Furthermore, the only person to have ever been referred to this way was dead at the time, so this reference does not constitute an actual office.
There is currently no president of the DPRK as the office was abolished in the current constitution and its powers divided between three offices: the head of government, the Premier (currently Kim Yong-il); the head of state, the President of the Supreme People's Assembly (currently Kim Yong-nam); and the head of the military, the Chairman of the National Defense Commission (currently Kim Jong-il). The current constitution formally divides the powers of the presidency between these three offices with Kim Jong-il as de facto ruler.[2]
