North Korea bestows new title on its young leader ahead of rocket launch

North Korea’s youthful “supreme leader” got another formal title Wednesday to show he’s really in charge before the North test-fires a long-range missile in the face of strong warnings from the US.

Even as engineers were fueling the missile on its launch pad, North Korea’s Workers’ Party named him “first secretary” – a new position created in deference to the memory of his late father, Kim Jong-il, who had had the title of general secretary when he died last December.

Rather than give the same title to Kim Jong-un, still in his late 20s, Pyongyang’s Korea Central News Agency said Kim Jong-il would remain “eternal general secretary.” The title was logical, observers note, as the North prepares for a massive celebration on Sunday marking the centennial of the birth of “Great Leader” Kim Il-sung, honored in posterity as “eternal president” after dying in 1994 and leaving power to Kim Jong-il.

“The son cannot take the father’s title,” says Bae Jong-yun, a political science professor at Yonsei University, explaining the deep Confucian respect for one’s ancestors behind the decision to honor Kim Jong-il as “eternal” general secretary. “The actual title is not so important,” Mr. Bae adds. “By naming Kim Jong-un first secretary, the party, his power, is consolidated and will give him stronger power as time passes.”

It’s still not clear if Kim Jong-un will assume his father’s title of chairman of the National Defense Commission, the center of power in North Korea, but the answer could come later this week when the rubberstamp Supreme People’s Assembly convenes.

The move to buttress Kim Jong-un with a formal title came as South Koreans went to the polls Wednesday in National Assembly elections seen as a test of the waning strength and popularity of the country’s conservative President Lee Myung-bak.

In early returns, the conservatives seemed likely to retain their grip over the assembly despite difficulties in the run-up to election in December of a successor to Mr. Lee, limited to a single five-year term under the South’s “democracy” constitution.

“They are working for the rich,” says Park Hyun-ju, a middle-aged housewife, reflecting widespread criticism of Lee’s government, especially among younger people. “They don’t have consideration for the real problems of the people. For most people, the economy is not getting better.”

Memories of the Korean War and concerns about North Korea, however, infuse the outlook of conservative older voters. “Yes, we are quite used to North Korean threats,” says Shin Yong-jin, a shopkeeper in his 60s. “We have a very strong belief that the other parties are communist or pro-communist.”

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