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NKorea boosts heir as head of powerful committee

Dec. 26, 2011 - 13:19 By

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) -- 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.

 

<한글기사>

김정은 당 중앙위 수반 언급..총비서 추대 예고


북한이 26일 김정은 노동당 중앙군사위원회  부위원장을 '당 중앙위원회의 수반'으로 잇따라 언급했다. 

노동당 기관지 노동신문은 이날 '선군 조선의 오늘, 내일' 제목의 글에서 "전국 의 모든 당조직들은 위대한 김정은 동지의 사상과 영도를 일심전력으로 받들고 있다 "며 '경애하는 김정은 동지를 수반으로 하는 당 중앙위원회를 목숨으로 사수하자'는 구호를 강조했다.

당 중앙위원회의 수반은 당 총비서를 의미하므로 김 부위원장이 이미 당 총비서 역할을 수행 중인 것으로 추정된다.

노동당 규약에는 당 총비서가 당 중앙군사위 위원장을 겸직하도록 돼 있으나 김 위원장의 사망으로 공석인 상황이어서 김 부위원장이 총비서 역할을 사실상  대행하 는 것으로 볼 수 있다.

이에 따라 김 부위원장을 인민군 최고사령관과 함께 당 총비서로 공식 추대하려 는 움직임도 가시화될 것으로 보인다.

노동신문은 북한군 장병이 금수산기념궁전을 찾아 참배하는 내용을 다룬 기사에 서도 "우리 인민군대는 '경애하는 김정은 동지를 수반으로 하는 당 중앙위원회를 목 숨으로 사수하자'는 구호를 높이 추켜들고 김정은 동지의 군 영도를 충직하게  받들 어 나갈 것"이라고 밝혔다.

북한은 2010년 9월 열린 당 대표자회에서 김 부위원장을 중앙군사위 부위원장으 로 선임하면서 당 조직을 대대적으로 개편해 김정은 후계체제를 노동당이  뒷받침하 도록 하는 체계를 갖췄다.

노동신문은 "전당이 위대한 김정은 동지의 유일적 영도 밑에 활발히 움직이고 있으며 그이의 의도대로 혁명과 건설이 힘있게 추진되고 있다"며 "모든 당조직과 일 꾼, 당원들이 김정은 동지의 영도를 앞장에서 충직하게 받들어 나가며 천만대중을 산악같이 일떠세우고 있다"고 밝혔다.