PYONGYANG, North Korea, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was reappointed general secretary of the ruling Workers' Party during its convention Tuesday, the country's official media said.
The 68-year-old Kim's appointment came the day after he appointed his heir-apparent son, Kim Jong Un, and sister as generals. The moves are seen as the start of a transfer of power from the ailing leader to his youngest son, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.
Kim initially was appointed general secretary in 1997.
Kim's son was named a four-star general, which opens the way for his advance in the ranks but stops short of installing him as the next leader of the communist country, the Los Angeles Times reported. Kim Jong Un is believed to be 27 years old and to have been educated in Switzerland.
On Monday, the Workers Party Central Committee said Kim Jong Un is "the only successor" to his father.
Five other people were named generals Monday, including Kim Kyong Hui, Kim Jong Il's 64-year-old sister, and Choe Ryong Hae, a party leader whose father reportedly fought with former North Korean leader Kim Il Sung (Kim Jong II's late father) as an anti-Japanese guerrilla, the Times said.
"This is just the first step in the succession process. As long as Kim Jong Il is alive, nobody knows how the other parties are going to react," Gordon Flake, executive director of Washington think tank Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, told the Times.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said in Washington the Obama administration was "watching developments carefully."
