North Korea’s leader in waiting made four-star general

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Il has made his youngest son a four-star general, making it almost certain that he will become his successor.

The announcement was made hours before a Workers' Party meeting where Kim, now 68 and in deteriorating health, was expected to grant his son, Kim Jong Un, 28, and other family members senior party posts to take the communist dynasty into a third generation.

Little is known about Kim Jong Un except that he was educated in Switzerland and at the military university in Pyongyang. There are no known photographs of him as an adult.

The meeting in Pyongyang was the country's biggest political gathering since Kim Jong Il made his own public debut in 1980.

State TV announced that "crucial developments" were taking place at the convention to elect top party leadership and that Kim Jong Il was re-elected to the party's top position of general secretary.

"His re-election is an expression of absolute support and trust of all the party members, the servicepersons and the people in Kim Jong Il," the official Korean Central News Agency said.

Kim Jong Il's sister, Kim Kyong Hu, 64, was also made a general, prompting speculation that she may oversee a transfer of power if the leader dies before the son is ready to take over, experts say.

"Kim Jong Un's promotion is the starting point for his formal succession to power," said Kim Yong Hyun, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk
University.