Premier of North Korea

Originally, under the 1948 Constitution of the DPRK, the Premier was the highest state post in North Korea. Kim Il Sung himself inaugurated the post, keeping it for 24 years until 1972, while the ceremonial role of the head of state rested in the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly.

The 1972 Constitution created the post of President, which replaced the premiership as the top state post. The executive presidency was created with Kim in mind, and he transferred to that post soon after the Constitution was promulgated. The Premier was now the head of the Administration Council, but most of the powers of the former cabinet were passed to the Central People's Committee [ja]], the highest ruling council chaired by the president himself. The first premier after Kim Il Sung was his long-time ally Kim Il. The post was then officially known as Premier of the Administration Council (정무원 총리, jungmuwon chongni).

After Kim Il Sung died, the post of president remained vacant (officially Kim Il Sung was proclaimed Eternal President) as his son Kim Jong Il planned a new State reorganization. A constitution revision in 1998 abolished both the Central People's Committee and the Administration Council, re-creating the Cabinet.

The premier is officially elected by the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA), which also has the right to recall the premier.^[2] The premier also nominates the candidacies for other members of the Cabinet, including vice premiers, the cabinet chairman, various ministers and other cabinet members, which are then appointed by the SPA. A newly-appointed premier takes an oath of allegiance in the SPA on behalf of other cabinet members.^[2]

The premier organizes and oversees the cabinet, and represents the government of North Korea.^[2] The premier also attends the plenary meetings and the permanent committee meetings of the Cabinet.^[2] The cabinet is charged with executing the policies decided by the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and the office effectively has no policy-making authority of its own.^[2]

The Premier is nominally part of a triumvirate overseeing North Korea's executive branch, alongside the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly and the President of the State Affairs Commission. According to the constitution, the SAC President, SPA Standing Committee chairman and Premier have powers equivalent to one-third of those of a president's powers in most presidential systems. The SPA Standing Committee chairman conducts foreign relations, the premier handles domestic matters and heads the government, and the SAC President (known as the chairman of the National Defence Commission before 2016) commands the armed forces. However, the SAC President is constitutionally defined as "the highest post in the state" and the country's supreme leader.

The Premier ranked as the lowest member of the executive triumvirate: significantly, Kim Jong Il was NDC Chairman without interruption from 1993 until 2011, and Kim Yong-nam was President of the SPA Presidium from 1998 to 2019, while there have been six premiers since Kim Il Sung's death. Kim Tok Hun, the incumbent Premier, has assumed the second-ranking position, while Choe Ryong-hae, Chairman of the SPA Standing Committee, is currently ranked third.^[3]

The following is a list of premiers of North Korea since its founding in 1948.

No.	Portrait	Name (born–died)	Term of office			Assembly
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
Prime Minister of the Cabinet of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea 조선민주주의인민공화국 내각 수상
1		Kim Il Sung 김일성 (1912–1994)	9 September 1948	28 December 1972	24 years, 110 days	1st 2nd 3rd 4th
Premier of the Administration Council of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea 조선민주주의인민공화국 정무원 총리
2		Kim Il 김일 (1910–1984)	28 December 1972	30 April 1976	3 years, 124 days	5th
3		Pak Song-chol 박성철 (1913–2008)	30 April 1976	15 December 1977	1 year, 229 days
4		Ri Jong-ok 리종옥 (1916–1999)	15 December 1977	25 January 1984	6 years, 41 days	6th 7th
5		Kang Song-san 강성산 (1931–2000)	25 January 1984	29 December 1986	2 years, 338 days	7th
6		Ri Kun-mo 리근모 (1926–2001)	29 December 1986	12 December 1988	1 year, 349 days	8th
7		Yon Hyong-muk 연형묵 (1931–2005)	12 December 1988	11 December 1992	3 years, 365 days	8th 9th
(5)		Kang Song-san 강성산 (1931–2000)	11 December 1992	21 February 1997	4 years, 72 days	9th
–		Hong Song-nam 홍성남 (1929–2009) acting	21 February 1997	5 September 1998	1 year, 196 days	9th
Premier of the Cabinet of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea 조선민주주의인민공화국 내각 총리
8		Hong Song-nam 홍성남 (1929–2009)	5 September 1998	3 September 2003	4 years, 363 days	10th
9		Pak Pong-ju 박봉주 (born 1939)	3 September 2003	11 April 2007	3 years, 220 days	11th
10		Kim Yong-il 김영일 (born 1944)	11 April 2007	4 June 2010	3 years, 84 days	11th 12th
11		Choe Yong-rim 최영림 (born 1930)	4 June 2010	1 April 2013	2 years, 271 days	12th
(9)		Pak Pong-ju 박봉주 (born 1939)	1 April 2013	11 April 2019	6 years, 10 days	12th 13th
12		Kim Jae-ryong 김재룡 (born 1959)	11 April 2019	13 August 2020	1 year, 124 days	14th
13		Kim Tok Hun 김덕훈 (born 1961)	13 August 2020	Incumbent	4 years, 101 days	14th

• Prime Minister of Imperial Korea (1895–1910)
• Prime Minister of South Korea
• Government of North Korea