North Korea has convened a key parliamentary meeting without its leader Kim Jong-un in attendance, state media said Thursday, ahead of his planned summits with South Korea and the United States.

The Supreme People's Assembly held a session on Wednesday, according to the Korean Central News Agency, with no special messages from Kim targeting Seoul and Washington ahead of the upcoming meetings.

The assembly holds a plenary session every April to deal with budgets and cabinet personnel reshuffle. The SPA is the highest organ of state power under the constitution, but it actually rubber-stamps decisions by the ruling Workers' Party of Korea.

This year's meeting drew keen attention due to a possibility that Kim may send messages to the outside world ahead of the summits at the otherwise domestic political event.

He is scheduled to hold a summit with President Moon Jae-in on April 27. Kim is also set to meet US President Donald Trump in May or June.

Ahead of the assembly session, the WPK held its first politburo meeting, on Monday, since February 2015.

Kim's reported discussion of prospects for dialogue with the US at the Monday meeting spurred speculation that he may clarify his stance over key issues, including nuclear programs, at the SPA session.

A mood for rapprochement has been created on the Korean Peninsula this year after more than a year of heightened tensions sparked by North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.

How to denuclearize North Korea will top the agenda at the inter-Korean summit and the Kim-Trump meeting.

The North has suggested a need for phased and synchronous measures for denuclearization, but the US is calling for the North to dismantle its nuclear program in a complete, irreversible and verifiable manner.

"As previously, Kim did not attend several SPA meetings, so we don't see his absence as rare. The government assessed that the North held the meeting at a similar level to last year's meeting," an official at Seoul's unification ministry said.

Experts said the North might have no reason to show its bargaining chips ahead of the summits.

"External affairs were not an agenda item for the latest SPA meeting," said Kim Dong-yub, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University.

"North Korea appears to be taking a prudent stance in handling the current situation while showing it is not giving in to international pressure," he added.

Meanwhile, at the SPA meeting, North Korea conducted a personnel overhaul of the State Affairs Commission to reflect the latest changes in the makeup of its party and military.

The North dismissed Hwang Pyong-so, a former director of the general political bureau of North Korea's armed forces, from the post of vice chairman of the SAC. Kim Jong-gak, Hwang's successor, became a member of the SAC instead of a vice chairman.

The move reduced the number of SAC vice chairmen to two -- Premier Pak Pong-ju and Choe Ryong-hae, a vice chairman of the WPK's central committee.

"The North appears to be trying to reduce excessive clout of the military and build up a party-centric system," Kim Yong-hyun, a professor at Dongguk University, said.

Kim Won-hong, who was sacked from the post of state security minister, was also stripped of his post as a member of the SAC. The post was filled by Jong Kyong-thaek.

Pak Kwang-ho, director at the WPK's propaganda and agitation department, was named a member of the SAC, replacing Kim Ki-nam.

"The move seemed to expedite a generational change in officials at the state apparatus and will help strengthen Kim Jong-un's control on the regime," said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior research fellow at the Sejong Institute.

North Korea also said it plans to spend 15.9 percent of this year's budget on national defense, almost the same proportion as last year, the report showed.

The country's state budget spending is expected to grow 5.1 percent this year from 2017, but it did not unveil the total amount. (Yonhap)