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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is applauded by participants after being named chairman of the Korean Workers‘ Party (KWP) during its seventh congress on May 9. (Kyodo/Yonhap News)

Kim Jong-un was elected chairman of the Korean Workers‘ Party (KWP) during its seventh congress on May 9, Japan’s NHK network reported from Pyongyang.

The fact was announced that day by the congress‘s chairman, Supreme People’s Assembly presidium president Kim Yong-nam, at a conference hall where members of the foreign press were granted access, the network said.

The decision appears to have come following the approval of a bill from the congress’s first day on May 6 titled “On Elevating the Dear Head of State to Our Party’s Highest Level.” The position of KWP chairman has not previously existed. For now, it appears to be more of a symbolic title indicating leadership over the party as a whole - as the wording about the “party’s highest level” indicates - rather than as a specific position such as KWP Central Committee chairman, which experts had predicted Kim might be assigned.

Kim’s elevation to the post is also being seen as consistent with efforts to normalize the KWP’s functions and boost its standing since he came to power. The emphasis stands in contrast to that of his father Kim Jong-il, who stressed a “military first” policy approach and held the post of National Defense Commission chairman.

Previously, North Korea described Kim Il-sung as its “eternal president” in the preamble of its Constitution, while Kim Jong-il was referred to in the preamble to the KWP regulations as the “eternal general secretary” and described and elected as the “eternal National Defense Commission chairman” by the Supreme People’s Assembly.

NHK also reported the appointment of Premier Pak Pong-ju and secretary Choe Ryong-hae to the standing committee of the KWP politburo. The appointment brings the current membership up to five, including Kim Jong-un, Kim Yong-nam, and Military politburo chief Hwang Pyong-so.

Given what is known about the KWP decision-making system, the body that elected Kim as chairman and appointed the additional politburo standing committee members is believed to be the first plenary session of the seventh KWP Central Committee, which was convened on May 9 following a decision statement adopted at the party congress the day before.

Meanwhile, North Korea briefly detained and ultimately expelled a BBC reporter in Pyongyang on May 9 for coverage it described as “slandering” the regime and its leadership.

According to reports that day from foreign news outlets in Pyongyang, BBC journalist Rupert Wingfield-Hayes traveled to the airport to leave North Korea on May 6 with a producer and cameraman, but was prevented from boarding his plane. Wingfield-Hayes was detained and underwent nearly eight hours of questioning by local authorities before signing a statement and being released. He subsequently stayed at a hotel with other BBC reporters before his departure on the afternoon of May 9.

By Gil Yun-hyung, Tokyo correspondent, Hwang Sang-cheol and Lee Je-hun, staff reporters

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