North Korea Re-elects Its Leader

North Korea re-elected its leader Kim Jong-Un on Wednesday, state media said, as parliament met in a session closely watched for power shifts in the communist state.

Kim was reaffirmed as First Chairman of the powerful National Defence Commission (NDC) by the new parliament, in a show of “absolute support and trust of all service personnel and people in him”, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. North Korea re-elected its leader Kim Jong-Un on Wednesday

The assembly gathered after North Koreans last month cast ballots in pre-determined elections where all candidates were unopposed.

Upon his re-election, “all the deputies and participants in the session broke into stormy cheers of ‘hurrah!’, extending the highest glory and warmest congratulations to him,” KCNA said.

Kim also serves as first secretary of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea and supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army, but his re-election as head of the top military body confers upon him ultimate power in the heavily militarized state.

On Tuesday, top party leaders met to decide on personnel changes at the head of the regime in the aftermath of the execution of Kim’s “traitor” uncle Jang Song-Thaek, who was purged last December after being accused of crimes including treason.

The new parliament is expected to endorse personnel changes that observers say are likely to affect a number of officials linked to Jang, once the North’s unofficial number two and Kim’s political mentor.