Kim Jong Un Succession: Heir Called Head Of Workers' Party Central Committee

PYONGYANG, North Korea — North Korea's state media on Monday called Kim Jong Il's heir the head of the ruling Workers' Party Central Committee, a job that gives Kim Jong Un power over one of the country's highest decision-making bodies more than a week after his father's death.

The reference in a commentary by the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper came as a former South Korean first lady and a prominent business leader traveled with two private delegations to North Korea to pay respects to Kim Jong Il, who is being mourned by millions as the North prepares for his funeral Wednesday.

North Korean soldiers, Rodong Sinmun said, are upholding a slogan urging them to dedicate their lives "to protect the party's Central Committee headed by respected comrade Kim Jong Un." Kim Jong Il's youngest son is in his late 20s and was unveiled in September 2010 as his father's choice as successor.

The slogan, which state media had frequently used when rallying support for Kim Jong Il, suggests the heir will likely be appointed as Workers' Party general secretary, the ruling party's top job and one of the country's highest positions.

North Korea is in official mourning for Kim until after a memorial Thursday. But the country is also offering hints about Kim Jong Un's rise as ruler. North Korea began hailing him as "supreme leader" of the 1.2-million strong military over the weekend.

Kim Jong Un will be the third-generation Kim to rule the nation of 24 million.

Also Monday, a total of 18 South Koreans crossed the heavily fortified border for a two-day trip that includes a visit to Pyongyang's Kumsusan Memorial Palace where Kim's body is lying in state, according to Seoul's Unification Ministry.

The two groups are led by the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, the creator of the engagement "sunshine" policy with the North who held a landmark summit with Kim in 2000, and Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun, whose late husband had ties to the North. The North sent delegations to South Korea when the women's husbands died.

South Korea has only allowed the two groups to visit and pay condolences for the death of Kim on Dec. 17. That has angered Pyongyang, which subsequently warned that obstructing mourning trips to the North would lead to "catastrophic consequences" for relations between the rivals.

Even as North Koreans brave frigid weather to visit mourning stations set up at landmarks around the country, the state media are providing details about Kim Jong Un's rise to power.

Koreans should become "eternal revolutionary comrades" with Kim Jong Un, "the sun of the 21st century," Rodong Sinmun newspaper said Sunday in a commentary carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

State television also showed Sunday footage showing Kim Jong Un's uncle and key patron, Jang Song Thaek, wearing a military uniform with a general's insignia, a strong sign he'll play a crucial role in helping the young man hold a grip on power and inherit his father's trademark "military-first" policy. Seoul's Unification Ministry said it was the first time Jang, usually seen in business suits, had been shown wearing a military uniform on state TV.

Jang, a vice chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission, is the husband of Kim Kyong Hui, younger sister of Kim Jong Il and a key Workers' Party official. South Korean lawmakers say intelligence officials have predicted that Jang and his wife will play larger roles supporting Kim Jong Un.

The North's state TV repeatedly showed footage Sunday of wailing uniformed soldiers, many with shaved heads, and other citizens professing their tear-choked longing for Kim Jong Il as they visited mourning sites.

___

Associated Press writers Foster Klug and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, and AP Korea bureau chief Jean H. Lee, contributed to this report. Follow on Twitter at twitter.com/newsjean and twitter.com/APKlug.

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Comments

[paulsca138]

10:43 PM on 12/29/2011

He is also called the Supreme Donut Eater!!

[dead WASP]

10:57 PM on 12/26/2011

The UN should have had a moment of silence for all the victims of Kim Jong-IL...

[ellwood145]

09:08 PM on 12/26/2011

sharkfin soup and ginseng tea for everyone, now bring in the ladyboy.

[shugapro]

09:07 PM on 12/26/2011

timothybsigler do you think that these so called dictators are actually figure heads for the North Korea communist party with the true power lying in that country's Communist Central Committee??? How else can it be?...because a single weakling like this Kim Jong Un could never beat up and hold a multi million man army and an entire country hostage!!! He is obviously a "puppet leader" of that communist state!

[leavesbound]

05:26 AM on 12/27/2011

Its not as much about physical strength as it is about brain washing. Communism is like a religion to these people and the Kims are their prophets. The first two were prophets in their own right the most recent one being their prophet by association. The entire nation would follow that kid off a cliff if that is the direction he led them. He will be most dangerous due to his lack of maturity. Who knows what direction he will lead his nation.

[shugapro]

12:12 PM on 12/27/2011

leavesbound capitalism is also about "brainwashing". What do you really think the idea of the "American Dream" is all about??? The "American Dream" is a mind drug,...an illusion that makes most folks think that they have a real chance of being affluent,...an hallucination that they only wake up from when they are on their death beds deep in debt! You however miss the real point of my submission......that like all political economic systems (America's included) North Korea's elite is not limited to one person but a cadre (group) of powerful people. If a sizeable number of people in North Korea didn't want communism and its leaders (as is the case with the political economy of the U.S. ) such system wouldn't exist! Until a larger CRITICAL number of people want political change (whether in the U.S. or North Korea) change will not occur!

[shugapro]

09:03 PM on 12/26/2011

davandsher Obama is an underperforming president, is that so? Well,....for the record........how do you rate Bush? Let's see how objective you are!!!!!

[ahnree]

08:13 PM on 12/26/2011

Looks like he uses the same bowl that his dad used to cut his hair. killer do.

[bwfree3]

08:09 PM on 12/26/2011

why would you have a moment of silence for someone who starved millions to death. oh i forget thats the u n were talking about

[leavesbound]

05:28 AM on 12/27/2011

It's called diplopmatic protocal. The UN holds an obligatory moment of silence for all heads of state who pass away regardless of how good or evil they might be. They cannot be seen as anything but objective in their actions.

[bwfree3]

08:09 AM on 12/27/2011

kick the u n out of the usa its filled with evil savages

[davandsher]

07:30 PM on 12/26/2011

Well here's Øbama taking yet another vacation while Americans suffer unemployment ,foreclosures and some cases hunger. It's time America woke up to the fact that the "Hope and change " he promised worked well for Øbama but not for you.

[paulsca138]

10:51 PM on 12/29/2011

At least he does not take month long vacations like Bush JR did every year...But Bush did stop golfing I wish Obama would follow that trend.

[Jeff Haley]

06:34 PM on 12/26/2011

"Kim Jong Un's uncle and key patron, Jang Song Thaek, wearing a military uniform with a general's insignia"

This is the real scary portion of the piece. Sounds like a more agressive approach to foreign Policy! We maybe counting the amount off "test" cruise missiles being tossed out to the China Sea, or where ever.

[leonkurt]

06:24 PM on 12/26/2011

I would take his lunch money. His father also looked like a whimp. Grandpa was a manch.

[doonooch]

07:39 PM on 12/26/2011

Kind of makes one want to play a game of drop kick the dear leader.

[timothybsigler]

06:21 PM on 12/26/2011

This is indeed a suprise. I never expected him to get this job.

[midway59]

05:55 PM on 12/26/2011

Our Politicians are jealous of this person.

[fxcruiser]

06:19 PM on 12/26/2011

Are you suggesting they want to be fat cats, forever in power and following a dictator?

[midway59]

06:47 AM on 12/27/2011

You know it.

[Meldy1]

05:16 PM on 12/26/2011

Barbaric dictatorial regime from North Korea.His father was feasting on caviar and American Brandy while his folks are dying from hunger!Every Christmas they get two fish for their meal.....how generous!This son,of his,who studied in Switzerland should change his country to the mold like his neighbor,... rich and modern South Korea in the future if I were him.....these people were brainwashed even acting like robots,crying on queques!!!!!!!OMG!

[fxcruiser]

06:06 PM on 12/26/2011

Well Meldy, America is close behind. Our government has already forced many into EBT (or food stamps) because of taxation and allowing for job exportation. I agree that young Kim Jong Un should recognize that he is in a position to do good things for his nation and so does our current leader who is vacationing in Hawaii, flaunts expensive parties while some residents huddle together just to stay warm. This picture can be painted both ways. I trust you will be examining the candidates and the issues and in Nov 2012 cast your voice as the voice of reason and not necessarily on party lines, but what you feel is best for the future of our country. This is our opportunity for those of us that live, work and grow old in this country to speak up, sound off, and be heard (provided the ballot box is not illegally stuffed) and not be brainwashed and act like robots. Thank you in advance for putting your country (not your government) first.

[screwitall]

05:10 PM on 12/26/2011

Kim Jong Un! What does Un stand for, Un American, Un Truthful, Un Democratic, Un Skinny, Un Ethical, Un Knowing,.Un Forgetful, Un Sympathetic, Un Worried ? ? ? ?

[Ramkshrestha]

04:49 PM on 12/26/2011

Even CIA could not have enough information, so they were very careful