North's leader Kim Jong-un casts his ballot at a polling station in South Hamgyong Province the previous day to take part in local elections to pick new deputies for local assemblies of provinces, cities and counties, Nov. 27, in this image captured from the website of North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency. Yonhap

North Korea said Monday the voter turnout for local elections held over the weekend was recorded at 99.63 percent, with its leader Kim Jong-un casting his ballot.

The North held elections Sunday to pick new deputies for local assemblies of provinces, cities and counties across the nation, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The election committee said 99.63 percent of eligible voters participated in the voting, except those who are in foreign nations or are working at sea, it said.

North Korea's local elections are held every four years, and the number of seats is determined by the population of each area. But the elections are widely viewed as a formality, as the candidates are hand-picked by the North's ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and rubber-stamped into office.

The North's leader Kim visited a polling station in South Hamgyong Province on Sunday and voted for candidates who ran in the elections in the region, the KCNA said.

The report said he met with the candidates and encouraged them to become "genuine representatives and true servants for the people who strive to defend and realize their rights, interests and requirements."

North's leader Kim Jong-un, right, visits a polling station in South Hamgyong Province the previous day to take part in local elections to pick new deputies for local assemblies of provinces, cities and counties, Nov. 27, in this image carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency. Yonhap

Kim was accompanied by Premier Kim Tok-hun and key party officials, including his younger sister Kim Yo-jong and Hyon Song-wol, vice director of the propaganda and agitation department, it added.

North Korea has revised an election law in a way that allows two candidates to be recommended in some constituencies for local elections and holds a preliminary election to decide on a final candidate.

The move appeared to be intended to introduce competition into the election system, albeit on a rudimentary level. But Seoul's unification ministry said the North's revision of the election law does not seem to genuinely guarantee people's suffrage.

At polling stations, North Korea set up two separate ballot boxes of different colors — one for approval and the other for disapproval — a move that hampers the principle of secret voting as it is easy to see whether people vote for or against, the ministry said.

"This shows the North's election system is far from a democratic electoral system. Rather, the country aims to strengthen its internal grip on people (via elections)," Koo Byoung-sam, spokesperson at the ministry, told a regular press briefing. (Yonhap)