Seoul:
North Korea indicated on Monday that Kim Jong-un, the son and successor of its deceased leader, Kim Jong-il, was being elevated to the top of the ruling Workers' Party's hierarchy, calling him head of its Central Committee.
The young successor's apparent rise to the party leadership came two days after the North's state-run news media published an entreaty for him to become supreme commander of the country's Korean People's Army, whose support is considered crucial to his consolidation of power. The top brass also moved quickly to swear their allegiance to Mr. Kim.
Since Kim Jong-il's death was announced on Dec. 19, a series of pronouncements from the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, have indicated that his son was rapidly consolidating his grip on power by assuming top titles, or that whoever was rallying the key agencies of power behind the young leader was ensuring that the son would not share power, at least in the public eye.
The younger Mr. Kim, his father's third son, is believed to be in his late 20s. There has been no indication that he had worked in the government or the military before his father, who had a stroke in 2008, unveiled him as his successor last year and put him on a fast track to be groomed as heir.
On Monday, the North's main newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, urged North Koreans to "defend the party's Central Committee headed by respected Comrade Kim Jong-un."
The same slogan was used for his father when he was alive. Over the weekend, the North Korean media were blessing the son with the same honorifics until now reserved for his father: "heaven-sent leader," "the sun of the 21st century" and eobeoi, the Korean word for parent, which North Korea has used only for Kim Jong-il and his father, Kim Il-sung, the North's founding president.
Under the charter of the Workers' Party, the head of its Central Committee doubles not only as general secretary but also as chairman of the party's Central Military Commission.
Kim Jong-un was made vice chairman of the Central Military Commission when he was anointed as successor.
Kim Jong-il died of a heart attack on Dec. 17. His funeral is set to take place on Wednesday, and a memorial is scheduled for Thursday.
On Monday, a former South Korean first lady and the chairwoman of Hyundai-Asan, which had business ties with North Korea, arrived in Pyongyang to pay respects to the deceased North Korean leader.
Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, and the Hyundai-Asan chairwoman, Hyun Jeong- eun, the widow of Hyundai's former chairman, Chung Mong-hun, were the only South Koreans allowed by the government in Seoul to lead private delegations to Pyongyang.
The government said that Ms. Lee and Ms. Hyun were reciprocating for the North Korean delegations that visited Seoul to express condolences over the deaths of the president and of Mr. Chung.
Hyundai-Asan led a flurry of South Korean investments that followed a 2000 summit meeting between the two Koreas. But the South suspended its signature project in North Korea - a hiking and spa resort near the North's Diamond Mountain - after North Korean guards shot a female South Korean tourist who had strayed off the resort in 2008.
"I hope my trip will help improve South-North relations," Ms. Lee told reporters before crossing the border on Monday.
On Sunday, striking a typically strident note, North Korea reiterated that if the South blocked private delegations from visiting Pyongyang for Mr. Kim's funeral on Wednesday, there would be "unimaginably disastrous consequences" for relations between the two.
The young successor's apparent rise to the party leadership came two days after the North's state-run news media published an entreaty for him to become supreme commander of the country's Korean People's Army, whose support is considered crucial to his consolidation of power. The top brass also moved quickly to swear their allegiance to Mr. Kim.
Since Kim Jong-il's death was announced on Dec. 19, a series of pronouncements from the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, have indicated that his son was rapidly consolidating his grip on power by assuming top titles, or that whoever was rallying the key agencies of power behind the young leader was ensuring that the son would not share power, at least in the public eye.
The younger Mr. Kim, his father's third son, is believed to be in his late 20s. There has been no indication that he had worked in the government or the military before his father, who had a stroke in 2008, unveiled him as his successor last year and put him on a fast track to be groomed as heir.
On Monday, the North's main newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, urged North Koreans to "defend the party's Central Committee headed by respected Comrade Kim Jong-un."
The same slogan was used for his father when he was alive. Over the weekend, the North Korean media were blessing the son with the same honorifics until now reserved for his father: "heaven-sent leader," "the sun of the 21st century" and eobeoi, the Korean word for parent, which North Korea has used only for Kim Jong-il and his father, Kim Il-sung, the North's founding president.
Under the charter of the Workers' Party, the head of its Central Committee doubles not only as general secretary but also as chairman of the party's Central Military Commission.
Kim Jong-un was made vice chairman of the Central Military Commission when he was anointed as successor.
Kim Jong-il died of a heart attack on Dec. 17. His funeral is set to take place on Wednesday, and a memorial is scheduled for Thursday.
On Monday, a former South Korean first lady and the chairwoman of Hyundai-Asan, which had business ties with North Korea, arrived in Pyongyang to pay respects to the deceased North Korean leader.
Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, and the Hyundai-Asan chairwoman, Hyun Jeong- eun, the widow of Hyundai's former chairman, Chung Mong-hun, were the only South Koreans allowed by the government in Seoul to lead private delegations to Pyongyang.
The government said that Ms. Lee and Ms. Hyun were reciprocating for the North Korean delegations that visited Seoul to express condolences over the deaths of the president and of Mr. Chung.
Hyundai-Asan led a flurry of South Korean investments that followed a 2000 summit meeting between the two Koreas. But the South suspended its signature project in North Korea - a hiking and spa resort near the North's Diamond Mountain - after North Korean guards shot a female South Korean tourist who had strayed off the resort in 2008.
"I hope my trip will help improve South-North relations," Ms. Lee told reporters before crossing the border on Monday.
On Sunday, striking a typically strident note, North Korea reiterated that if the South blocked private delegations from visiting Pyongyang for Mr. Kim's funeral on Wednesday, there would be "unimaginably disastrous consequences" for relations between the two.
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