Kim is the third-generation ruler of the nuclear-armed state founded by his grandfather Kim Il Sung in 1948. He has ruled the country since his father’s death in 2011.
The election is a “highly choreographed event with a pre-determined outcome”, said Lee Ho‑ryung of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.
“Throughout the third-generation rule, the North has staged such events to showcase a procedure in an attempt to achieve political legitimacy,” she said.
“But no one thinks any different outcome would emerge from it.”
Photos released by KCNA show Kim dressed in a formal western suit and seated at the centre of a stage, flanked by top officials in front of two giant statues of his father Kim Jong Il and grandfather.
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