N. Korean President’s Son Is Named Chief of Military

The son of North Korea’s president has been named supreme commander of the country’s military, state media reported Wednesday, a major step in the hereditary power succession in the Communist nation.

North Korea’s 182-member Central Committee of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party on Tuesday elected Kim Jong Il to replace his father, Kim Il Sung, in the top post of the 1-million-member armed forces, according to a Korean Central News Agency report monitored in Tokyo.

Kim Il Sung, 79, remains the nation’s president and head of the Worker’s Party, which has 2.4 million members. His 49-year-old son is No. 2 in the ruling party.

It was unclear what impact, if any, the shift in military leadership would have on North Korean policy.

The North Korean news agency reported that father and son appeared at a meeting of army political instructors Wednesday. Kim Il Sung “expressed the hope that the whole army would be faithful to the leadership of comrade supreme commander,” the report said.

In Seoul, South Korean analysts said the change was unusual because the North Korean constitution stipulates that the president shall serve as supreme commander of the military.

“It’s another clear indication that power succession in North Korea is in its final stage,” said Kim Chang Soon, president of the independent North Korean Affairs Research Institute in South Korea.

The appointment “indicates North Korea badly needs a younger and yet strong supreme commander at a time when it worries about possible preemptive strikes against its nuclear facilities,” said Katsumi Sato, managing editor of the monthly magazine Korea Today in Tokyo.

Kim Il Sung, who has ruled since Korea was divided at the end of World War II in 1945, turns 80 on April 15. His right-hand man and defense minister, O Chin U, is 80.

Little is known about Kim Jong Il, known as the “Dear Leader” in the reams of propaganda praising him and his father, the “Great Leader.”

The junior Kim has been groomed to succeed his father since he was elected party secretary in September, 1973.

Intelligence reports that North Korea is nearing the capability to produce nuclear weapons have focused international attention on the bitterly divided and heavily militarized Korean peninsula.

In October, 1980, Kim Jong Il came to the fore of the North Korean power elite when he was named a member of the party Central Committee, the Politburo and the party Central Military Commission.