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North Korea's Kim Is Formally Named To Leadership Post

North Korea's President Kim Jong Il. (File photo)

TOKYO, Oct. 8—De facto leader Kim Jong Il took formal control of North Korea today, a long-awaited ascension that could make the world's last Stalinist state less mysterious and more directly engaged with the outside world.

The reclusive Kim, 55, son of North Korea's national founder Kim Il Sung, had led his nation's 24 million people without a title since his father's death in July 1994. But state radio reports from Pyongyang today said that Kim has been elected general secretary of the ruling Korean Workers' Party, ending a three-year mourning period and opening a new chapter in the nation's history.

The head of the party is the nation's most important post, and Kim's assumption of that title marks the first time a communist country has allowed a dynastic succession. Kim still has not taken over the title of state president, which his father also held. No explanation for that was given yesterday. Observers say Kim probably will assume that title later or perhaps even eliminate the post now that he is officially leading the party.

North Koreans had been instructed to listen to their radios at 5 p.m. today, so the news that Kim has assumed his father's old title was heard by most of the nation. Within minutes, there were reports of thousands of people dancing in the streets and parties sweeping across the capital.

One Pyongyang hotel employee contacted tonight by telephone by Japan's NHK television said 20,000 people were celebrating by singing and dancing in the capital's main square. A woman who answered the telephone at a U.N. office in Pyongyang said that no officials were available to talk about the announcement: "They're all at the party," she said.

Officials of the Chosen Soren, the largest North Korean residents' association in Japan, said in a statement: "We have been waiting for a long time for this historic event. . . . We are full of enthusiasm and joy."

Kim is one of the world's most mysterious leaders. Little is known about him; he is believed never to have met an American, except perhaps for defectors living in his country. He rarely appears in public, and his last known contact with the outside world was a visit to China in 1983.

American and South Korean officials say their intelligence reports on Kim are woefully thin, which makes it difficult to understand how or why political decisions are made in North Korea -- one of the Clinton administration's top foreign policy priorities.

Pyongyang has a million-man army poised mainly along the border with South Korea, where 37,000 U.S. troops are stationed. North Korea has food shortages so severe that aid agencies say millions of people are suffering from illnesses related to malnutrition -- a situation that some analysts fear could cause North Korea to make a desperate attack on South Korea.

With conflicting reports emerging from North Korea on how grave the hunger is and how prepared the army is for war, there has been deep concern about the stability of Pyongyang. Officials in Washington and Seoul have been perplexed about North Korea's true aspirations and intentions -- or even who was really in charge.

Lee Kyu Hyung, spokesman for the South Korean Foreign Ministry, said that not having anyone officially leading North Korea had been "not normal." He said it is expected that Kim's assumption of formal power will make North Korea's diplomacy "more transparent, more predictable and more reasonable."

[In Washington, a State Department spokesman noted that Kim was effectively in control of the country before receiving his new title but expressed hope that it will lead to a renewed commitment by North Korea to four-nation talks aimed at a permanent peace treaty on the Korean Peninsula and to improved relations with South Korea, the United States and others.

["It is important . . . [because of] the opportunities it creates for him to put his mark on the new age," a U.S. government analyst said. "The clock now starts. These are now his policies . . . to succeed or fail. We will now see if he has the leadership skills" to solve some of the country's many problems.

[U.S. officials said, however, that they do not expect any sharp departures from North Korea's current domestic or foreign policies, which they said have been inflexible. They also said it remains unclear why Kim was not formally named the country's president, a post his father had while serving as party secretary and chief of the armed forces.]

A U.S. official in Seoul said Kim may now "get out and about more." There is talk of a meeting with Chinese President Jiang Zemin, and Kim Dae Jung, the South Korean opposition leader who is the front-runner in opinion polls in advance of December's presidential election, has said he would be willing to meet with him.

Still, the fact that Kim Jong Il made no official statement after tonight's announcement was seen as evidence that his lifetime of reclusive and enigmatic behavior will not change overnight.

Kim has inherited and cultivated the personality cult created by his father. North Korean society functions as an almost quasi-religious state, with Kim Il Sung as the spiritual leader. Since Kim Il Sung's death, Kim Jong Il has allowed the popular worship of his father to continue while working hard to solidify his own image and power.

The vigorous North Korean propaganda machine has been churning out stories for three years about Kim's alleged accomplishments -- which they say are nearly godlike. In recent weeks, the official reports have been filled with all sorts of "mysterious" natural phenomena, such as flowers blooming out-of-season, that heralded the ascension of Kim.

A new two-volume official biography of Kim was issued earlier this year, and it repeated the myths that Kim Il Sung created to build popular support for his son and successor. As the official stories go, the younger Kim was born beneath a bright guiding star as rainbows broke across the sky; most objective historians say Kim probably was born in a military barracks in Siberia, where his father was training to become Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's handpicked leader for North Korea.

As he bolstered his own image over the last three years, the younger Kim also moved behind the scenes to shore up his support in the military. He replaced older generals with younger ones loyal to him, and he accelerated promotions for many officers. The official communique from the ruling party announcing Kim's new title was accompanied by an endorsement from the Central Military Commission, the latest sign that he has strong military backing.

Most foreign observers have concluded that Kim lacks the charisma and confidence of his father, who met many foreign leaders, including former president Jimmy Carter, in the weeks before his death. Not only does the younger Kim shy away from meeting foreigners, but his voice has rarely been broadcast to a national audience in North Korea.

But last week, it was learned that Kim had just met with his first foreign official in a decade, Oleg Shenin, chairman of Russia's Council of the Union of Communist Parties. Shenin told the Russian Tass news agency that he spoke with Kim in North Korea and that "I saw that Pyongyang is ready for contacts with the world, and during the celebrations [over his new formal title] Kim Jong Il will, naturally, meet many foreigners."

Staff writer R. Jeffrey Smith contributed to this report from Washington.