North Korea's Kim in spotlight as parliament meets

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea holds the first session on Thursday of its newly elected parliament, which is expected to mark leader Kim Jong-il's return to center stage and celebrate what the reclusive state says was a triumphant rocket launch.

Kim, 67, has been conspicuously absent from major public events after his suspected stroke in August, which raised questions about his iron grip over the impoverished communist dynasty and if anyone was waiting in the wings to succeed him.

Analysts said the carefully choreographed session of the rubber-stamp Supreme People's Assembly would give Kim a mandate that cements his legacy of building a military-first state and could pave the way to transfer power to one of his three known sons, if he so chooses.

It was unclear what time the meeting would begin or if Kim would appear.

North Korea's propaganda machine has carefully managed the re-emergence of Kim from his illness through reports about his tours to factories and military bases, while only showing still photographs of the visits.

It prepared the public for his full return by saying he was on hand Sunday to watch the long-range rocket launch. On Tuesday, it showed video footage of the launch on state TV followed by a documentary on Kim where the public saw recent video images of him for the first time since his suspected stroke.

Analysts say the launch was a disguised test of a long-range missile designed to carry a warhead as far as Alaska. The United States, Japan and South Korea say it violated U.N. resolutions banning North Korea from ballistic missile activity.

The communist North reshuffled the decks of its ruling Workers' Party of Korea through an election in March and has revamped its cabinet over the past few months.

At the first session of the new parliament that sits for five years, there is expected to be a further reshuffling of the power apparatus within the National Defense Commission, which is the seat of power in the state, likely to be expanded in a way that further strengthens Kim, the commission chairman.

The reshuffle and appointments will bring in those who are more sympathetic to one of Kim's three sons eventually succeeding the elder Kim, analysts said.

Many believe Kim's Swiss-educated third and youngest son, Jong-un, born in late 1983 or early 1984, is the most likely candidate.

His uncle and a Workers' Party of Korea official Jang Song-taek, 63, is likely to be a caretaker who will see the younger Kim firm up his power base.

In the past few years, Jang returned to the inner leadership circle and is often seen as the second-most powerful man after Kim Jong-il in the ruling party structure, though he officially holds only a relatively minor post.

(Editing by Jon Herskovitz and Dean Yates)