(LEAD) N. Korea crowns leader Kim Jong-un as party's general secretary

All News 08:52 January 11, 2021

(ATTN: ADDS more info, background from 4th para)
By Choi Soo-hyang

SEOUL, Jan. 11 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has endorsed leader Kim Jong-un as the general secretary of the ruling Workers' Party at its ongoing congress, state media said Monday, in an apparent move to tighten his grip on power.

The election took place at the sixth-day session of the party's eighth congress in Pyongyang on Sunday, following the North's revision of party rules to reinstate the secretariat system that was scrapped in 2016, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

"The eighth congress ... decides to hold Kim Jong-un in high esteem as the general secretary of the Workers' Party Korea," the report said.

The general secretary title was previously held by Kim's late father and predecessor, Kim Jong-il, with the North calling him "the eternal general secretary" of the party.

During an election that took place the same day, Kim's younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, was not included as an alternate member of the party's powerful political bureau.

Speculation has swirled that the younger Kim, previously an alternate member of the politburo, could be promoted to a higher position as she appeared to have undertaken a prominent role in inter-Korean affairs and other key issues.

Jo Yong-won, a senior party official who was often spotted accompanying the leader during his field trips last year, was promoted to a member of the standing committee of the political bureau, a position held by only five people in the North including leader Kim, to replace Pak Pong-ju.

North Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui was demoted to an alternate member of the party's central committee from a member, amid an impasse in the North's nuclear negotiations with the United States.

The North Korean leader has held three meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump, but denuclearization talks have made little progress since their no-deal summit in Hanoi in February 2019.

During an earlier session of the congress, Kim defined the U.S. as the North's "foremost principal enemy" and vowed to bolster its nuclear arsenal, which experts see as aimed at pressuring the incoming Joe Biden administration.

Jang Kum-chol, head of the North's United Front Department that deals with inter-Korean affairs, also appears to have been replaced as he was not included on the list of party department chiefs.

KCNA said the congress was to continue with a seventh-day session on Monday.

The event appears to be coming to an end, but it is unclear exactly when the congress will close as the North has not made public the schedule. The previous congress in 2016 was held for four days.