North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has appointed his youngest son as a four-star general, the communist state’s official media said yesterday in its first mention of the young man widely seen as heir apparent.

The announcement comes hours before the scheduled opening of the biggest ruling party meeting for 30 years. The conference is expected to anoint the son Kim Jong-Un as eventual successor to the ailing 68-year-old leader.

The North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) also said the leader’s sister Kim Kyong-Hui was appointed a four-star general along with Choe Ryong-Hae, a longtime aide to the Kim dynasty.

Mr Kim, 68, suffered a stroke two years ago and since then has apparently speeded up plans to put his Swiss-educated third son – believed aged about 27 – in place as eventual ruler of the impoverished nuclear-armed nation.

His name has never previously been carried by official media in the North, which has been ruled by the Kim dynasty since its founding in 1948. No photo of Jong-Un as an adult has been seen outside the secretive country.

At the last major Workers’ Party meeting in 1980, Kim Jong-Il was confirmed as eventual successor to his father Kim Il-Sung, who died in 1994.

“North Korea has now made it official,” South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted Yang Moo-Jin, a professor at Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies, as saying.

“It is certain that Kim Jong-Un will be named to a high-level Workers’ Party post in the upcoming convention.”

Sister Kim Kyong-Hui, 64, is married to Jang Song-Thaek, who is first deputy chairman of the top governing body the National Defence Commission and is widely seen as the nation’s second most powerful man.

The sister, who oversees light industries, and her husband are thought likely to act as caretakers for the young and inexperienced son if the leader dies or is forced to step down due to ill health.

The 1.2 million-strong military known as the Korean People’s Army plays a dominant role in the nation under a Songun (army-first) policy.

KCNA said Kim Jong-Il “firmly believes that the commanding members of the People’s Army will continue to support the leadership of the party and complete the revolutionary exploit that was first begun in Mount Paekdu.”

The mountain on the China border is officially listed as Kim Jong-Il’s birthplace.

The party conference was originally scheduled for the first half of September but delayed without explanation.