Footage from the conference was aired on state-run TV
A rare meeting of North Korea’s ruling party has opened the way for Kim Jong-il to hand power to his youngest son.
The Workers’ Party has not met for 30 years and Kim Jong-un’s appointment as general is seen as a major promotion.
State media said his father had been re-elected as leader although he is thought to be in poor health.
North Korea’s succession is being closely watched because of its nuclear programme and hostility with the South.
Kim Jong-il and the handover of power
Aged 68, Kim Jong-il is said to be frailGroomed as successor to father, Kim Il-sung, from mid-1970sGiven military role and position in Workers’ Party secretariat in 1980Finally became leader in 1994 on father’s deathGuide: Secretive ‘first family’
Kim Jong-un is the elder Kim’s third and youngest son and had already been identified as the most likely successor to the Communist dynasty started by Kim Il-sung in 1948.
However, until Tuesday, there had been no mention of his name by state media and little is known of him other than that he was educated in Switzerland and is around 27 years of age.
His elder brother and half-brother appear to have been ruled out of the running for the succession.
Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said Kim Jong-un’s promotion to four-star general signified a “clear assertion of intentions”.
‘Storm of applause’
Kim Jong-il has been described as frail and suffering from several ailments.
He is said to have had a stroke two years ago, and was given treatment in China, although no public comment has been made by either Beijing or Pyongyang.
There was no mention of his condition as state media reported that the once-in-a-generation session of the Workers’ Party had re-elected him as general secretary amid a “storm of applause”.
The television announcer spoke of “crucial” developments taking place, adding that the elder Kim had been reappointed as an “expression of absolute support and trust”.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency lauded Kim Jong-il’s “immortal exploits” and said they would “shine long in the history of the country” as he developed the ruling party of his late father, Kim Il-sung.
The agency also announced the elevation of two other key figures to the post of four-star general: Kim Jong-il’s sister, Kyong-hui, and a long-time family aide, Choe Ryong-Hae.
Military first
The priority of military positions in North Korea’s secretive power apparatus stems from the policy known as “songun” or military first.
The military, backed up by a standing army of 1.2m troops, is said to run the country’s political process through the National Defence Commission, chaired by Kim Jong-il.
Analysis
With Kim Jong-il visibly frail and sick, speculation has been mounting that this meeting is designed to officially anoint Kim Jong-un as his chosen successor.
The theory is given added weight because Kim Jong-il himself was anointed in this way by his own father, the country’s first and now “eternal” president, during the last major party event in 1980.
If Kim Jong-un is now given a senior party position to complement his newly-bestowed military rank it will be a strong sign that the authoritarian state really does intend to continue its quasi-religious leadership cult for another generation.
Final confirmation would come if the enigmatic young man’s portrait appears alongside that of his father and grandfather in every home and workplace.
Will Kim name successor?
His sister’s husband Chang Song-taek is second in command of the commission and considered to wield immense influence.
British academic Hazel Smith who lived in North Korea for two years said Kim Jung-un would need further promotion to the National Defence Commission if he were to take over in the long term. “But it’s not by any means a done deal,” she said. Real power lay with the military, she added.
A US official said it was too soon to tell what was happening inside North Korea’s leadership, but the United States was watching developments “carefully”.
In the South Korean capital Seoul, a small protest took place, demonstrating against what was seen as the preparation of a third generation of the Kim dynasty.
On Monday, The Chosun Ilbo newspaper quoted an unnamed North Korean source as saying a propaganda campaign had already begun to raise Kim Jong-un’s profile.
Events in Pyongyang are reminiscent of the gradual rise of the elder Kim in the mid-1970s. He was given a key post in the ruling party although he was not formally anointed as Kim Il-sung’s successor until 1980.
Images released by the North’s state media on Monday showed orderly lines of delegates – some wearing suits, others in military uniform – arriving in Pyongyang.
The Associated Press reported that the capital was decorated with flags and placards announcing the meeting.
One poster read: “Warm congratulations to the representatives meeting of the Workers Party of Korea.”
KCNA reported that party delegates visited the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang on Monday to pay respects to North Korean founder Kim Il-sung, father of Kim Jong-il.
Kim Il-sung is known as the “eternal president”, while Kim Jong-il has styled himself the “dear leader”.
Kim Jong-il became leader when his father died in 1994.
Under Kim Jong-il, the country’s isolation from the outside world has become entrenched.
Mr Kim has built up a personality cult around his family, while North Korea’s economy has all but ceased to function and its people suffer from frequent food shortages.
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