North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has reportedly been renominated as general secretary of the ruling Workers' Party by a convention of party delegates.

Pyongyang’s official media, including Korean Central Television, aired the announcement Tuesday afternoon, adding that the decision was unanimous and was greeted with a storm of applause by all the delegates who took part in the convention.

The 68-year-old Kim was nominated as general secretary of the Workers’ Party in October 1997, three years after his father and predecessor Kim Il-sung died.

The Worker’s Party convention on Tuesday is the third such convention to be held by the North and is the first in 44 years.