Kim Jong Il was unanimously re-elected to North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament, in elections closely watched for signs of a political shift or hints the autocratic leader was grooming a successor.

North Koreans went to the polls today to elect MPs to the country’s rubber-stamp parliament as observers watched closely for hints that leader Kim Jong Il may be grooming a successor.

A North Korean legislator, on a rare visit to the European Union headquarters, said today that Pyongyang would not be swayed by the international condemnation of North Korea’s nuclear test and would not pay attention to criticism.

Kim Jong Il, the communist bloc’s first leader to inherit power from his father, was re-elected as North Korea’s top man today, as his isolated regime struggles to win US guarantees for its security in exchange for its nuclear weapons program.

North Korea today cut off the only regular military contact with the US-led United Nations Command that monitors the Korean War armistice, accusing America of trying to attack the communist state.