Kim Jong Un Confirmed as North Korean Leader

Kim Jong Il's youngest son will succeed him
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Oct 8, 2010 6:38 AM CDT
Kim Jong Un Confirmed as North Korean Leader
In this undated file photo released on Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010 by Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's son Kim Jong Un is shown.   ((AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service, FILE))

A top North Korean official confirmed today that Kim Jong Il's youngest son will succeed him as the next leader of the reclusive communist nation. In the first public confirmation of the succession plan, Yang Hyong Sop, a top official in North Korea's ruling party, referred to Kim Jong Un as "the young general" during an exclusive interview with broadcaster APTN. Yang said the nation's people were honored to serve him as their leader.

He would be the third successive generation of his family to lead of the nation of 24 million. "Our people take pride in the fact that they are blessed with great leaders from generation to generation," Yang said. Click here for a wild story about how Kim may have had plastic surgery to look more like his grandpa.
(More Kim Jong Un stories.)

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