Open Radio for North Korea says North Korea mass-produced badges and portraits of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s third son and heir-apparent, Jong-un.

The Seoul-based radio station that broadcasts programming for listeners in the North quoted a senior government source as saying Monday that the Mansudae Art Studio was ordered by a superior authority to mass-produce badges and portraits of the heir-apparent at the end of April.

The report said the badges and portraits are expected to be given out as gifts to high-level officials during a meeting of senior members of the North’s ruling party next month at the earliest.

An official of the radio station said that the “superior authority” apparently referred to Kim Jong-il, adding that the production of badges and portraits is part of efforts to formalize his succession.

The Mansudae Art Studio is the North’s largest art production center and is comprised of some three-thousand artists and workers.