Final farewell for Dear Leader
Source: Agencies |
December 29, 2011, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
TENS of thousands of North Koreans lined snow-covered streets yesterday, wailing and clutching their chests as a black hearse carried late Dear Leader Kim Jong Il's body through the capital for a final farewell that ended with a 21-gun salute.
The funeral procession on a gray, freezing day in Pyongyang was accompanied by top military and party officials. Son and successor Kim Jong Un served as head mourner, walking with one hand on the hearse, the other raised in salute, his head bowed against the wind.
State media - which over the past week have called Kim Jong Un "great successor," "supreme leader" and "sagacious leader" - made it clear that the family's hold on power would extend to a third generation, declaring the country in the younger Kim's "warm care."
At the end of the procession, Kim Jong Un again walked along with the limousine with his hand cocked in a salute. He stood head-bowed with top officials as rifles fired 21 times, then saluted again as goose-stepping soldiers carrying flags and rifles marched by.
The funeral procession, which began and ended at Kumsusan Memorial Palace, where Kim's body had lain in state and where his father, North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, is preserved, passed by huge crowds of mourners, most of them standing in the snow with their heads bare, many screaming and flailing their arms as soldiers struggled to keep them from spilling onto the road.
"How can the sky not cry?" a weeping soldier standing in the snow said to state TV. "The people ... are all crying tears of blood."
Transition of power
Kim died of a heart attack on December 17 at the age of 69.
Even as North Koreans mourned the loss of the second leader the nation has known, the transition of power to Kim Jong Un was under way.
The young man, who is in late 20s, is already being hailed by state media as the "supreme leader" of the party, state and army.
Like his father's in 1994, Kim Jong Il's coffin was wrapped in a red flag. A limousine carrying a huge portrait of a smiling Kim led the procession, and soldiers followed the hearse and lined the streets.
A national memorial service will take place at noon today, state media said. Foreign diplomats in Pyongyang were told to prepare to attend the service.
Outside observers were watching yesterday's footage closely for clues on the makeup of Kim Jong Un's inner circle.
Walking behind him was Jang Song Thaek, Kim Jong Il's brother-in-law and a vice chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission who is expected to play a crucial role in helping Kim Jong Un take power.
Also escorting the limousine were military chief Ri Yong Ho and People's Armed Forces Minster Kim Yong Chun. Their presence indicates they will be important players as the younger Kim consolidates his leadership. Top Workers' Party officials Choe Thae Bok and Kim Ki Nam and senior military officer Kim Jong Gak were also in prominent positions, according to Seoul's Unification Ministry.
Kim Jong Il's two other sons were not spotted at the funeral procession.
The funeral procession on a gray, freezing day in Pyongyang was accompanied by top military and party officials. Son and successor Kim Jong Un served as head mourner, walking with one hand on the hearse, the other raised in salute, his head bowed against the wind.
State media - which over the past week have called Kim Jong Un "great successor," "supreme leader" and "sagacious leader" - made it clear that the family's hold on power would extend to a third generation, declaring the country in the younger Kim's "warm care."
At the end of the procession, Kim Jong Un again walked along with the limousine with his hand cocked in a salute. He stood head-bowed with top officials as rifles fired 21 times, then saluted again as goose-stepping soldiers carrying flags and rifles marched by.
The funeral procession, which began and ended at Kumsusan Memorial Palace, where Kim's body had lain in state and where his father, North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, is preserved, passed by huge crowds of mourners, most of them standing in the snow with their heads bare, many screaming and flailing their arms as soldiers struggled to keep them from spilling onto the road.
"How can the sky not cry?" a weeping soldier standing in the snow said to state TV. "The people ... are all crying tears of blood."
Transition of power
Kim died of a heart attack on December 17 at the age of 69.
Even as North Koreans mourned the loss of the second leader the nation has known, the transition of power to Kim Jong Un was under way.
The young man, who is in late 20s, is already being hailed by state media as the "supreme leader" of the party, state and army.
Like his father's in 1994, Kim Jong Il's coffin was wrapped in a red flag. A limousine carrying a huge portrait of a smiling Kim led the procession, and soldiers followed the hearse and lined the streets.
A national memorial service will take place at noon today, state media said. Foreign diplomats in Pyongyang were told to prepare to attend the service.
Outside observers were watching yesterday's footage closely for clues on the makeup of Kim Jong Un's inner circle.
Walking behind him was Jang Song Thaek, Kim Jong Il's brother-in-law and a vice chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission who is expected to play a crucial role in helping Kim Jong Un take power.
Also escorting the limousine were military chief Ri Yong Ho and People's Armed Forces Minster Kim Yong Chun. Their presence indicates they will be important players as the younger Kim consolidates his leadership. Top Workers' Party officials Choe Thae Bok and Kim Ki Nam and senior military officer Kim Jong Gak were also in prominent positions, according to Seoul's Unification Ministry.
Kim Jong Il's two other sons were not spotted at the funeral procession.
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