The youngest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has been given senior posts in the ruling communist party, state media said Wednesday, confirming his status as heir apparent to his ailing father.
Kim Jong-Un was named one of two vice-chairmen of its powerful central military commission and a member of its core institution the central committee, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
On Monday the 68-year-old leader had appointed his son a four-star general, a move seen as the first official confirmation that Jong-Un has been picked as eventual leader of the impoverished but nuclear-armed nation.
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The Swiss-educated Jong-Un, believed aged about 27, had never been named in state media before this week and is little known outside the country.
But some Seoul-based analysts say he has been actively involved in state affairs for more than a year.
Jong-Un's latest appointments came Tuesday, when the Workers' Party held its highest-level gathering for 30 years to elect a new leadership. The KCNA report indicated that the conference, presided over by leader Kim, lasted just one day.
The meeting also appointed the leader's sister Kim Kyong-Hui a member of the party political bureau, or politburo. Her husband Jang Song-Thaek -- already considered the nation's second most powerful man -- was made an alternate member.
Jang was also was appointed a member of the military commission and the central committee.
He and his wife are seen as key supporters of the son and likely to act as regents if ill health forces leader Kim to step down.
The leader, who took over from his own father and the nation's founding president Kim Il-Sung, suffered a stroke two years ago and is also thought to have kidney problems.
The speed of the succession process "apparently signals that Kim Jong-Il's health is failing fast", Paik Hak-Soon of South Korea's Sejong Institute think-tank told AFP Tuesday, referring to the son's appointment as general.
"Otherwise he would have never promoted the son so quickly, worrying he himself would become a lame duck."
Daily NK, a Seoul-based website, had reported Tuesday that the conference would last just one day due to Kim's shaky health.
The Kim dynasty has ruled with an iron fist since the country was founded in 1948.
The regime is struggling to revive the crumbling command economy amid persistent severe food shortages, and is grappling with international sanctions imposed to curb its nuclear and missile programmes.
The party also elected four new members to its supreme body, the presidium of the politburo.
This previously had just one member -- Kim himself -- after Kim Il-Sung and other members of his revolutionary generation died in the 1980s and 1990s.
Kim Yong-Nam, Choe Yong-Rim, Jo Myong-Rok and Ri Yong-Ho joined the leader on the presidium, KCNA said.
Kim Yong-Nam, 82, is parliament chief and fulfils the functions of head of state because late founding leader Kim Il-Sung has been declared president for eternity.
Jo, 82, is also first vice-chairman of the top governing body the National Defence Commission and has been near the centre of power for three decades. He led an official delegation to the United States in 2000.
"The conference of the Workers' Party of Korea was held with success in Pyongyang on September 28," KCNA said, indicating for the first time that its proceedings were over.
Kim Yong-Nam formally proposed leader Kim's re-election as party general secretary and the conference also adopted unspecified rule changes, the agency said.
"Having Kim Jong-Il at the top post of the WPK (Workers' Party of Korea), organiser and guide of all victories of the Korean people, is the greatest happiness and highest honour of all the party members, servicepersons and people," Kim Yong-Nam was quoted as saying.
