N. Korean leader reappointed military chief in parliament meeting

SEOUL, April 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il renewed his term as
top military chief on Thursday when the country's parliament met for his
reappointment.
The Supreme People's Assembly "solemnly declared internally and externally" that
Kim Jong-il was elected chairman of the National Defence Commission, the official
Korean Central News Agency said. Kim's election is "all the servicepersons and
people's expression of unquestioned support and trust in him," it added.
The National Defence Commission is the state's highest decision making body that
oversees the country's 1.19 million-strong military and appoints senior military
posts. The election was Kim's fourth since he assumed the post in 1993, a year
before the death of his father and the country's founder, Kim Il-sung.
Kim has since made the military-first policy the nation's foremost ideology.
The rubber-stamp parliament, newly elected last month, held its first meeting to
approve Kim's reappointment and shakeups in the Cabinet and the military.
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