North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party will hold a crucial meeting of representatives in mid-April for the first time since 2010, its state media said Monday, drawing attention to whether its new leader will officially take the top party post.

“The Workers’ Party has decided to convene the meeting in mid-April to glorify the sacred revolutionary life and feats of its late leader Kim Jong-il, and rally close around his son and successor, Kim Jong-un,” the party’s Central Committee said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

The statement did not specify the exact time and agenda for the meeting, which would be the fourth of its kind following the first meeting in 1958, the second in 1966 and the third in 2010.

During the last meeting in September 2010, Kim Jong-un, the new leader and youngest son of the deceased former leader Kim Jong-il, was given the newly-minted vice chairman of the party’s Central Military Commission.

A crucial party reshuffle was also conducted during the 2010 meeting with the aim of facilitating the third-generation hereditary power succession.

Observers predicted that the major political gathering could be held around the centennial birthday of its national founder Kim Il-sung on April 15.

Experts here said that Kim Jong-un may officially take the helm of the party’s top post, which has been left vacant since his father reportedly died of heart failure on Dec. 17.

“One of the primary purposes of the meeting could be making him the party’s general secretary, who also doubles as the head of the party’s Central Military Commission under a 2010 party rule,” said Cheong Seong-chang, senior fellow at the Sejong Institute.

“Although the North can hold the meeting in fall after this year’s major events such as the centennial birthday of its national founder Kim Il-sung on April 15, it has decided to hold it in mid-April. This can be construed as its desire to quickly complete the power succession process.”

Experts also predicted that the new leader, believed to be in his late 20s, will be appointed as chairman of the state National Defense Commission at the Supreme People’s Assembly, the North’s rubber-stamp parliament that usually convenes a session in early April.

Regarding the NDC chairman post, some have raised the possibility that the North could make Kim Jong-il an “eternal NDC chairman” and create another state post for Jong-un.

Cheong also predicted that the ruling party could revise its rules to hail Jong-un as the “current leader” while defining his father as the bygone leader. There could also be a reshuffle among the party’s power elites, he added.

“Figures who could not play any big role to help facilitate the power succession or old elites who could be a burden for the young leader could step down while relatively young figures loyal to Kim Jong-un could enter the party’s Central Committee or be promoted,” he said.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)