Kim's son 'given defense post'

SEOUL: The third son of DPRK leader Kim Jong-il has been assigned to the country's all-powerful National Defense Commission, a possible sign that he is being groomed as his father's successor, a news report said yesterday.

Kim, who has been the top leader since his father's death in 1994, has three known sons by two women but has not publicly appointed any of them as his successor. Speculation on who is to succeed the 67-year-old leader has grown since Kim reportedly suffered a stroke in August.

Yesterday, Yonhap news agency reported Kim's youngest son, 26-year-old Kim Jong-un, took up a low-level post at the defense commission, several days before the country's parliament reappointed the senior Kim as the commission's chairman on April 9.