Death no barrier to Kim Jong Il promotion

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been appointed to what appears to be a top post in the ruling Workers’ Party while his late father was declared its “eternal” general secretary.

The state-run news agency reported the first details from the secretive party proceedings in Pyongyang.

Kim Jong Un was named first secretary of the Workers’ Party. He is expected to have gained other new titles formalising his position as “supreme leader” of North Korea’s people, party and military at the fourth Workers’ Party conference.

The young Kim, who was unveiled as father Kim Jong Il’s choice as successor at a similar party conference in September 2010, assumed power following the long-time leader’s December death.

His ascension to the party’s top post comes during a week of events leading up to centennial celebrations marking the birth of his grandfather, North Korean founder Kim Il Sung. Kim Il Sung died in 1994 but remains the country’s “eternal president,” just as Kim Jong Il was granted the general secretary title eternally.

Kim’s 100th birthday is a major milestone in the nation he founded in 1948, and the streets were awash with new posters, banners and flags. Outside the city’s war museum and the Pyongyang Indoor Stadium, women in traditional Korean dress gathered in clusters, practising for special performances this week.

One of the main events planned for this week is a rocket launch poised to take place from a west coast launch pad.