North Korea is planning a major military parade and war games to mark a ruling party anniversary and the emergence of leader Kim Jong-Il’s son as heir apparent, South Korea’s defence minister said yesterday.

Kim Tae-Young, in the first such comment by a Seoul official, said Kim Jong-Un had been virtually anointed as eventual successor to his ailing father at last week’s ruling party meeting in Pyongyang.

The son is now expected to begin public activities as a successor-in-waiting, the minister said in a report to Parliament.

He said the North appears to be using the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Workers’ Party this Sunday to celebrate “the formation of a succession platform” for Mr Jong-Un.

Mr Jong-Un, believed aged about 27, was appointed four-star general and given key party posts last week. His official photo was published in state media for the first time ever.

Minister Kim said about 15,000 soldiers have been deployed at the Mirim air base near Pyongyang for a large-scale parade to celebrate the October 10 anniversary.

Preparations are also under way for a major military exercise involving artillery, jet fighters and warships off the eastern port of Wonsan, the minister said.

The exercise, to be watched by Kim Jong-Il, may take place before Sunday, he said. The North, with 1.2 million troops, has often celebrated major political anniversaries with massive displays of troops, missiles and other weapons.

Leader Kim suffered a stroke in August 2008 and has reportedly been speeding up succession planning since then.

The South’s Yonhap news agency said Mr Jong-Un accompanied his father on two visits to China this year in preparation for an eventual power transfer.

The son behaved like a bodyguard to his father during the trips in May and August and travelled under an assumed name, it quoted sources as saying.

The North has made some apparent conciliatory gestures to the South in recent weeks, in what some analysts see as an attempt to ease tensions and restart economic assistance during the succession process.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.