North Korea local polls to help hereditary power succession - South agency

Seoul, 22 July - North Korea is preparing to hold local elections this weekend in what analysts say could give a boost to leader Kim Jong Il's apparent move to hand over his power to his third and youngest son, Kim Jong-un.

North Koreans are set to elect deputies to local people's assemblies on Sunday [24 July] as state media ramped up its propaganda machine to justify the hereditary power succession.

A broadcaster called the election an important task to safeguard the North's socialist system for future generations, in an apparent move to induce people's allegiance to the heir apparent.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has accelerated steps to extend his family dynasty into a third generation since he suffered a stroke in 2008.

He named Jong-un vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the North's ruling Workers' Party and a four-star general last year in the clearest sign yet to make him the next leader.

The succession would mark communism's second hereditary power transfer. The elder Kim inherited power from his father, the country's founder Kim Il Sung, who died in 1994.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said the local elections could be linked to cementing Kim Jong-un's eventual rise to power.

He also predicted some old deputies could be replaced by young representatives.