N. Korea party conference likely to be held early next week+

BEIJING, Sept. 11 Kyodo -
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has inspected a mine in the country's Jagang
Province, the North's official media reported Saturday, a sign that the
Workers' Party of Korea is unlikely to convene a closely watched conference on
the weekend.
Korean Central News Agency did not report the date of Kim's visit to the March
5 Youth Mine. But assuming that the inspection took place around Friday and
given a trip back to Pyongyang from the province that borders China, the party
is expected to hold the conference early next week.
After arriving in Beijing from Pyongyang by air on Saturday, a member of the
General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, or Chongryon, said the
conference of party delegates, the first of its kind in 44 years, has yet to be
held, and that he does not know when it will take place.
During the reported inspection, Kim was accompanied by Jang Song Thaek, vice
chairman of the National Defense Commission and director of the party's
Administration Department, Kim Kyong Hui, Kim Jong Il's sister and Jang's wife,
and party secretary Kim Ki Nam.
Kim Kyong Hui serves as a department director of the party.
At the upcoming party event, Kim Jong Il's third son and heir apparent Jong Un,
believed to be in his late 20s, is expected to join the party leadership with a
senior post, paving the way for eventual succession.
Official media had earlier only reported that the party will convene the
conference in early September to elect its ''highest leading body,'' without
elaborating.
A conference of party delegates is as equally important as a party congress,
which has not been held since 1980.
==Kyodo
2010-09-11 23:45:55


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