North Korea’s Kim re-elected to parliament

SEOUL, South Korea – Kim Jong Il was unanimously re-elected to North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament, state media said today, in elections closely watched for signs of a political shift or hints the autocratic leader is grooming a successor.

All eligible voters in Constituency No. 333 cast ballots for Kim, renewing their “unshakable determination to devotedly safeguard” the leader, the official Korean Central News Agency said in first results from Sunday’s poll.

A list of legislators to the 12th Supreme People’s Assembly is expected later today. Observers are watching the results closely for clues to how Kim and the ruling elite will govern the communist nation over the next five years, and any signs he is grooming a successor.

Kim, 67, reportedly suffered a stroke last August, around the time the elections were due to be held. North Korea denies he was ill and did not provide a reason for the poll delayed to March.

The poll was held as North Korea claimed it was powering ahead with plans to send a communications satellite into orbit – a launch regional powers fear is a cover for a long-range Taepodong-2 missile capable of striking Alaska.

North Korea said today it ordered its armed forces on standby and warned it will retaliate against anyone seeking to block its launch plan. The warning came hours after South Korea and the U.S. kicked off their annual military drills, which the North has condemned as a rehearsal for an invasion.