North Korea has increased education on its young leader Kim Jong-un for its students, South Korean experts said Sunday, in what could be the North's latest efforts to strengthen its third-generation power succession.

Kim has taken a series of steps to consolidate his grip on power that he inherited upon the death of his father and long-time leader, Kim Jong-il, in 2011. The current leader is the grandson of North Korea's founder Kim Il-sung.

A new education curriculum for primary, middle and high schools in 2013 and 2014 added subjects on Kim Jong-un, including his childhood and his revolutionary activities, said Kim Jong-won, a research fellow at the Korean Education Development Institute in Seoul, in a thesis.

The thesis was co-authored by Kim's associate Kim Ji-soo and Han Seung-dae, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University.

In the past, North Korean students were taught about Kim Il-sung and his wife, Kim Jong-suk, and their son, Kim Jong-il.

The experts also said that North Korea has increased school hours on English to two hours a week for fourth grade students from one hour. In the past, North Korea referred to English as a foreign language, but it has now begun to call it English.

In mathematics, questions included references to Kim Jong-un, as well as his father and grandfather. (Yonhap)