☰

Global

North Korea calls rare second session of assembly


    SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has called for a rare second session of its parliament on June 7, its state media said Tuesday, two months since the previous meeting when it changed the constitution to boost leader Kim Jong-il's powers.

    A brief dispatch by the official KCNA news agency did not say what was on the agenda for the new session of the rubber stamp Supreme People's Assembly.

    Kim did not attend the last session on April 9, which amended the constitution to strengthen the powers of the National Defence Commission, the focus of leadership in the reclusive state which he heads as chairman.

    The new session will come after South Korea is expected to release this Thursday the findings by a team of investigators probing the cause of a deadly sinking of a navy ship in March, which officials widely believe was torpedoed by North Korea.

    South Korean President Lee Myung-bak spoke to U.S. President Barack Obama Tuesday and discussed a coordinated response to the sinking, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said..

    (Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)