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The election of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as general secretary of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea means that he will lead with a party-centered state system that Pyongyang believes will be helpful in cementing his authority, according to experts, Monday.
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| North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been elected as general secretary of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea. / Yonhap |
According to the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Monday, the sixth-day session of the party's eighth congress, held on Sunday, unanimously adopted a decision on electing Kim as the party's general secretary, the same title used by his father Kim Jong-il and his grandfather, national founder Kim Il-sung.
In the previous party congress in 2016, Kim, who took power in 2011, was endorsed as party chairman from the party's first secretary.
"Kim had sought to consolidate his control of the party by using the title of chairman, a rare yet superordinate position to party general secretary. In fact, most socialist states, including China, do not use the chairman position," said Hong Min, a senior researcher at the state-run Korea Institute for National Unification. "However, now Kim is set to use a party-centered control system, making the party's ruling practices more functional in his rule, which looks more normal."
On Sunday, the KCNA reported that the ruling party revised its rules, including changing the office regulations of chairmen and vice chairman of party committees at all levels into chief secretary, secretary and vice-secretary. It has also changed the Executive Policy Council into Secretariat and Executive Policy Office into Sub-Secretariat.
Cheong Seong-chang, a fellow at the Wilson Center's Asia Program, said the reinstatement of the general secretary post was made to strengthen his authority.
"Under the previous party rules, adopted in the 2016 party congress, a large number of North Korean officials used titles of chairman and vice chairman at various levels and the regime may have thought it was lowering his authority," he said.
"However, the re-introduction of the secretariat system is differentiating the leader from other officials as he is the lone general secretary, which favors his one-man rule."
As for the demotion of the leader's influential sister, who was anticipated by the South Korean authorities to get promoted to a higher party rank in the congress, the experts said she is taking a hiatus from her job of handling affairs with South Korea and the United States, citing her pedigree.
"She is a member of the North's 'royal' family and has exerted greater influence in state affairs, so it isn't relevant what position she takes," Hong said.
"In addition, given that she led the North's hardline stance against the South and the U.S. last year, such as demolishing the inter-Korean liaison office, the North Korean leader likely thought it would be better to retract her from the forefront against Seoul and Washington for the present time in its management because of the current uncertainty of the situation."
