North Korean state media has called Kim Jong Un, the son of the late leader Kim Jong-Il “The Supreme Commander,” referring to the new leader tightening control over the country’s army, Euronews reported on Sunday.
“We vow with bleeding tears to call Kim Jong Un our supreme commander, our leader,” the North’s Rodong newspaper of the North Korean Workers’ Party said.
Experts however are divided whether the top title means the younger Kim would take an immediate control of the world’s fourth-largest army or share the power with more experienced statesmen.
The Kim Jong-Il, who has led the secretive nuclear-armed state since 1994, died aged 69 while traveling on his train a week ago.
The dear leader’s third son, thought to be in his late 20s, has already been called by the North Korea’s state news agency (KCNA) as the “Great Successor”.
The Kim Jong Un, who studied in Bern, Switzerland, inherits one of the most troubled world’s economies that has gone through a prolonged spell of economic hardship and food shortages, with some suggesting that a humanitarian disaster is unfolding in the reclusive state.
A funeral for Kim Jong-il will be held in Pyongyang on December 28, with the mourning period lasting until December 29, KCNA said. No foreign delegations will be allowed to attend the funeral.
