N.Korea to convene parliament in April

SEOUL (AFP) - North Korea said on Friday it would call its parliament into session in April, with attention focused on whether heir apparent Kim Jong-Un will be further promoted.

The fourth session of the 12th Supreme People's Assembly will take place in Pyongyang on April 7, the official Korean Central News Agency said.

Pyongyang usually convenes its rubber-stamp parliament twice a year for a day or two to pass government budgets and approve personnel changes.

Attention is focused on whether Kim Jong-Un, leader Kim Jong-Il's youngest son and heir apparent, will be promoted as one of vice-chairmen of the powerful National Defence Commission (NDC).

Jong-Un, believed aged 27, was made a four-star general in September and appointed as one of vice-chairmen of the party Central Military Commission, which oversees the 1.2 million-strong armed forces headed by his father.

"It is interesting to see whether the son becomes a vice NDC chairman or even the first NDC vice-chairman," Professor Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies told AFP.

If he emerges as the first NDC vice-chairman, he is likely to become the fist vice-chairman of the party's Central Military Commission sooner or later, the communist party organ in charge of military affairs, he said.

"This will pave the way for the son's eventual ascension to the throne,"  Yang added.