North’s paper calls Kim by father’s titles

North Korea’s authoritative newspaper yesterday referred to the successor son of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il as the head of a key ruling Workers’ Party organ, indicating that the son is on track to take full control of the communist nation.

One of the titles the late leader held before his Dec. 17 death was the party’s general secretary, a post that automatically makes its holder head of the party’s powerful Central Military Commission.

Last year, the late Kim named his third son, Kim Jong-un, as vice chairman of the commission while promoting him to four-star general. Those were his first official steps to hand power over to his youngest son, who is believed to be in his late 20s.

Rodong Sinmun called the youngest Kim head of the military commission in a series of articles spurring loyalty to him. The references suggest that the youth has secured his place as both the commission’s chairman and the Workers’ Party’s general secretary.

It also suggests that the leadership has agreed to give him the highest titles his late father held, the party’s general secretary and supreme commander of the North’s Korean People’s Army.

“All party organizations across the country are upholding Great Comrade Kim Jong-un’s ideology and leadership with one mind,” the newspaper said.

Yonhap