N.Korea’s parliament adopts laws in effort to build ‘socialist fairyland’

North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament convened this week to pass legislation aimed at turning the country into a “beautiful and civilized socialist fairyland,” state media reported on Thursday.

The North Korean Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) met for its first session on Wednesday, and adopted laws on landscaping and rural development, state news agency KCNA reported.

What are the two new laws about?
The two laws will help advance the ruling party’s efforts to bring about “a radical turn in the rural community and its policy on landscaping to achieve a rapid development of the Korean-style socialist rural community and spruce up the country into a beautiful and civilized socialist fairyland,” KCNA said, citing a deputy’s speech to the gathering.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who did not attend the session, has vowed to improve people’s livelihoods and boost rural development amid spiralling economic crises caused by self-imposed COVID-19 lockdowns, international sanctions over the country’s nuclear weapons programme, and natural disasters.