N. Korean state backs Kim Jong-un as 'supreme ruler'

North Korea declared Kim Jong-il's son and successor "supreme leader" of the ruling party, military and the people during a memorial Thursday for his late father.

It was the government's first public endorsement of Kim Jong-un's leadership since his dad died of a heart attack Dec. 17.

Kim Jong-un, head bowed and sombre in a dark overcoat, stood on a balcony at the Grand People's Study House watching the memorial, which also served as a show of support for North Korea's next leader. He was flanked by top party and military officials, including Kim Jong-il's younger sister, Kim Kyong-hui, and her husband, Jang Song-thaek, who are expected to serve as mentors of their young nephew.

Given Kim Jong-un's inexperience and age he is in his late 20s there are questions outside North Korea about whether he is equipped to lead a country engaged in long-stalled negotiations over its nuclear program and grappling with decades of economic hardship and chronic food shortages.

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But support among North Korea's power brokers was unequivocal at the memorial service, attended by hundreds of thousands of people filling Kim Il-sung Square and other plazas in central Pyongyang.

"The fact that he completely resolved the succession matter is great comrade Kim Jong-il's most noble achievement," Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, told the massive audience at the square.

"Respected comrade Kim Jong-un is our party, military and country's supreme leader who inherits great comrade Kim Jong-il's ideology, leadership, character, virtues, grit and courage," said Kim, considered North Korea's ceremonial head of state.

Life at a standstill for memorials

Thursday's memorial, on the last day of a 12-day mourning period for Kim Jong-il, "was an event to publicly reconfirm and solidify" his son's status, said Jeung Young-tae, an analyst with the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, South Korea. "Kim Jong-un is already the leader of the party, military and country."

Life in the North Korean capital came to a standstill as mourners blanketed the plaza from the Grand People's Study to the Taedong River.

Kim Jong-il, who led his 24 million people with absolute power for 17 years, inherited power from his father, North Korea founder Kim Il-sung.

Attention turned to Kim Jong-un after he was revealed last year as his father's choice among three known sons to carry the Kim dynasty into a third generation. The process to groom him was rushed compared with the 20 years Kim Jong-il had to prepare to take over from his father.

Kim Il-sung is North Korea's first and only president; he retains the title "eternal president" even after his death. Kim Jong-il held three main positions: chairman of the National Defence Commission, general secretary of the Workers' Party and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army. According to the constitution, his position as chairman of the National Defence Commission made him "supreme leader" of North Korea.

Since his father's death, Kim Jong-un has seen state media bestow on him a series of new titles signalling that his succession campaign was gaining momentum: great successor, supreme leader and sagacious leader.