Top official tells AP Kim Jong Un is ready to lead

PYONGYANG, North Korea — A senior North Korean official is dismissing concerns about Kim Jong UN’s readiness to lead.

Politburo member and Kim family confidante Yang Hyong Sop tells The Associated Press that the nation’s young leader spent years working closely with his late father, Kim Jong Il.

Yang says Kim Jong Un helped his father on key policy decisions on economic and military affairs.

The AP interview with Yang was the first by a high-level government official since Kim Jong Il’s Dec. 17 death, which he called “the greatest loss in the history of our nation.”

Kim Jong Un had been kept out of the public eye for most of his life before suddenly emerging as his father’s heir in September 2010.