Kim adds title: General Secretary of ruling party

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was given a new title, “general secretary” of the ruling Workers’ Party, formerly held by his late father and grandfather, state media reported on Monday. The party’s ongoing congress, the first of its kind in five years, announced Kim’s new title during its sixth-day session on Sunday.

A congress statement said Kim has gloriously realized the historic mission to complete the country’s nuclear build-up plan, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. During a 2016 party congress, he was named to “party chairman,” the equivalent of “general secretary” held by his father Kim Jong Il and grandfather Kim Il Sung. Before the 2016 congress, Kim Jong Un had led the party with the title of “first secretary.”

Since inheriting power upon his father’s death in late 2011, Kim has gradually consolidated his grip on power through a series of high-profile executions and purges that removed his potential rivals. He has also taken up a spate of top jobs that includes chairman of the State Affairs Commission and supreme commander of the North’s 1.2 million-member military, along with the top party post.