N Korea warms up for rule of Kim Jong-Il

SEOUL, Sept 2: North Korea has for the first time referred to its leader Kim Jong-Il as head of state, officially heralding his imminent ...

SEOUL, Sept 2: North Korea has for the first time referred to its leader Kim Jong-Il as head of state, officially heralding his imminent appointment to the top post, analysts said on Wednesday.

The reference came buried in a eulogy to Kim as North Korea geared up for his expected assumption of the state presidency on Saturday, in time for the country’s 50th anniversary of its foundation.

“Bright is the future of the DPRK (North Korea),” the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on a dispatch late Tuesday.

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“We are greeting the 50th founding anniversary of the DPRK as the grand festival of socialist victors, with Kim Jong-Il as the head of the party, Army and state,” it added.

South Korean and foreign analysts here said the mouthpiece’s choice of wording signalled the first official confirmation of speculation that Kim was poised to end a four-year official power vaccuum at the top and take full control.

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