Eternal President of the Republic

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Chosŏn'gŭl	공화국의 영원한 주석
Hancha	共和國의 永遠한 主席
McCune-Reischauer	Konghwaguk-ŭi Yŏngwŏnhan Chusŏk
Revised Romanization	Gonghwaguk-ui Yeongwonhan Juseok

North Korea
Image:Flag of North Korea.svg This article is part of the series: Politics and government of North Korea

Constitution Juche Eternal President: Kim Il-sung National Defense Commission Chairman: Kim Jong-il Government Premier: Kim Yong-il Supreme People's Assembly President: Kim Yong-nam Subdivisions Political parties Workers' Party of Korea Elections Korean reunification Human rights Foreign relations: Iran Mongolia Pakistan Songun policy
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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. 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]

Given that the line "eternal President of the Republic" only appears in the preface, and not in the functional text of the constitution, 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]