September 30, 2023
News

Kim Jong Un named general secretary — a title reserved for his late father

Kim Jong Un promoted to a higher Workers' Party of Korea rank that was otherwise posthumously reserved for Kim Jong Il

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was promoted to general secretary of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, filling a high-level seat that had remained vacant for nine years after his father died.

On Monday, state media reported that Kim was newly appointed to the general secretary position on the sixth day of North Korea’s rare and politically-important Party Congress. Kim had previously been just the chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea, and his father — Kim Jong Il — was named the symbolic “eternal general secretary” months after his death in April 2012.