1991 North Korean parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on 28 May 1991 to elect 850 members of the Supreme People's Assembly. Turnout was reported to be 99.98%, with only one candidate being shown on the ballot. Citizens were allowed to hold autonomous primary elections to decide the person that would run for the Supreme People's Assembly. Only in 1996 the citizenry would be allowed to vote for independents, too. All of candidates were reported to have received 100% of approval rates, with few constituencies registering independents affiliated with the Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea. Notable approval for the Social Democratic Party (DFRK) was reported in Northern Regions.

Background
In 1985, Kang Song San was reported by Western observers to have been elected as General Secretary of the WPK and subsequently as President of the Council of State after the death of Kim Il Sung, founder of the DPRK and staunch hardliner both in political and economic affairs. Song San in the first months organized trips to China and Vietnam multiple times and held bilateral meetings with the respective countries leaders, from 3 March 1985 until 6 April. He then returned to Pyongyang, and illustrated his thesis for the implementation of economic reforms and the adoption of a "socialist market economy" with increased privatization. To convince the party leadership, he showed the particular success of Special Economic Zones. These would be created in May 1986 in Pyongyang, Chongjin, Hamhung and Kaesong, where private enterprises were encouraged to form, the lifting of price controls, opening up of foreign investments. Investors in particular came from all over the world; even from South Korea and the United States.

Song San also focused on agriculture, a sector that operates only in the 20% of national lands, which are arable. Mismanagement and frequent local economic failures transformed the sector into a backward and inefficient one, with food production being in serious risk if a flood or any other disaster were to happen. Kang Song San with the 150 National Directive called for an end in forced collectivization of land, the closure of collective farms and the Responsible Division Method which assigned, for the first time, private plots to farmers that however had to sell a small number of crops to the government. These measures increased agricultural output and production by 37% in the period between 1985 and 1992. The state also intervened to modernize agricultural machines and methods by following the Chinese example.

Mikhail Gorbachev requested the DPRK to open up on the political scene, however Kang Song San found the requests as "counter-revolutionary". As a result, the Supreme People's Assembly approved a motion that condemned the Soviet Union for undermining the country's stability. Song San looked at China and Vietnam as role models for the country, and relations with both countries and the West further increased.

Selected political reforms were also underway; the office of President of the Council of State was merged with the President of the Presidium of the SPA DPRK and restored the role of President of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which also assumed the functions of Supreme Commander of the KPA and member of the State Auditing Commission. Usually the individual assuming these roles was also elected as Chairman of the Central Military Commission and, in that case, of the National Defence Commission (organ which was abolished in 1999 and replaced with the standard Council of Ministers). Nominally the most important role is still the General Secretary of the Workers Party of Korea. The individual chosen for the position would then assume all of the aforementioned positions, granting almost total control over all national affairs.