North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il was Thursday re-elected to his most powerful post, cementing his authority over the hardline communist state despite lingering health questions.

"The first session of the Supreme People's Assembly... elected leader Kim Jong-Il chairman of the National Defence Commission," the Korean Central News Agency reported.

The election "is all the servicepersons' and people's expression of unquestioned support and trust in him," it said, adding that Kim "has performed immortal exploits to shine long in the history of the country."

A meeting of the new parliament known as the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) began earlier in the morning in Pyongyang. The agency report did not say whether the 67-year-old leader was present.

He had been widely tipped to attend, in what would be his first appearance at a major public event since reportedly suffering a stroke last August.

Kim is also head of the ruling Workers' Party and supreme commander of the military but the National Defence Commission is in overall control of the 1.2 million-member armed forces.

Analysts say he has received a domestic boost from Sunday's rocket launch, despite widespread foreign criticism of what was seen as a disguised missile test.

Authorities organised a massive rally in central Pyongyang's Kim Il-Sung Square on the eve of the meeting, state media showed. Some 100 000 people in their best clothes assembled to celebrate the launch.

"Hurrah! Great victory of military-led politics," read one slogan on a giant placard depicting soldiers waving rifles and bayonets.

Rodong Sinmun, newspaper of the ruling communist party, said Thursday's meeting would be "a milestone in strengthening and developing the republic's administration into a powerful revolutionary regime that highly upholds the Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il's Songun (military-first) politics."

Hailing the launch, it called for a "dramatic turnaround" in efforts to strengthen the nation's power and improve people's living standards.

The North says its rocket put into orbit a communications satellite which is beaming back patriotic songs.

The United States and its allies say there is no sign of the object in space, and that the launch was in any case a disguised long-range missile test in violation of United Nations resolutions.

"This launch is yet another step in the development of a North Korean long-range intercontinental ballistic missile," NATO ambassadors said in a statement after a meeting Wednesday at alliance headquarters in Brussels.

"These irresponsible and provocative actions by Pyongyang pose a serious threat to the region and the international community at large."

The UN Security Council cannot agree how to treat the launch. The United States and its allies are pushing for a strong response but face opposition from China, Russia and others.

The SPA is a rubber-stamp parliament but its first meeting is seen as politically significant. It will approve shake-ups in the cabinet and the military and ratify foreign policy directives.

Analysts will closely watch for any personnel changes especially in the defence commission, whose first vice chairman Jo Myong-Rok, 81, is reportedly in ill health.

Elections for the SPA are normally held every five years but did not go ahead last summer amid reports of Kim's health problems.

The election was finally held last month, with one pre-approved candidate ? including Kim himself ? standing in each constituency.

The parliament is also set to reaffirm the country's uncompromising stance on the rocket launch.

On Tuesday Pyongyang's deputy UN ambassador Pak Tok-Hun warned of unspecified "strong steps" if his country is censured by the Security Council.

The North, which tested an atomic weapon in 2006, has previously warned it will walk out of long-running six-nation nuclear disarmament talks in response to any UN action.