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North Korea holds two-day state funeral for Kim Jong-il | North Korea holds two-day state funeral for Kim Jong-il |
(about 2 hours later) | |
North Korea has begun two days of funeral services for late leader Kim Jong-il with a huge procession in the capital, Pyongyang. | |
Footage showed tens of thousands of soldiers with their heads bowed as a huge portrait of Mr Kim was was carried slowly through the streets. | |
His successor and third son, Kim Jong-un, walked beside the hearse, images from state television showed. | |
Kim Jong-il died of a heart attack on 17 December, aged 69, state media said. | Kim Jong-il died of a heart attack on 17 December, aged 69, state media said. |
He has been lying in state since then. | He has been lying in state since then. |
New line-up | |
No schedule was released ahead of the commemorations and no foreign delegations are attending. | |
But observers expected the ceremonies to echo the displays of pomp and military might that marked the death of Mr Kim's father, Kim Il-sung, in 1994. | |
This ceremony is an important event for North Korea to cement the authority of its next leader - a man not yet 30 and with little experience of government. | This ceremony is an important event for North Korea to cement the authority of its next leader - a man not yet 30 and with little experience of government. |
But it is also a rare opportunity for those outside the country to glimpse the internal power structure of the Communist state. | But it is also a rare opportunity for those outside the country to glimpse the internal power structure of the Communist state. |
Many of the country's key positions are still held by a coterie of men and women around its former leader - senior military and party officials who may well now be jostling for influence in the new regime. | Many of the country's key positions are still held by a coterie of men and women around its former leader - senior military and party officials who may well now be jostling for influence in the new regime. |
And some say North Korea's reluctance to open up the funeral ceremony to foreign delegations may signal that those hierarchies have not yet been fully agreed. | And some say North Korea's reluctance to open up the funeral ceremony to foreign delegations may signal that those hierarchies have not yet been fully agreed. |
Kim Jong-un - who is thought to be in his late 20s and who has little political experience - was shown weeping beside the hearse. | |
He was accompanied by his uncle, Chang Song-taek, who is expected to be a key player as the younger Kim consolidates power. | |
Ri Yong-ho, the army chief, also accompanied the hearse. | |
Observers will be keenly watching the line-up over the two-day funeral to see which officials are in prominent positions. | |
Kim Jong-il was in the process of formalising Kim Jong-un as his successor when he died but the transition was not complete, leaving regional neighbours fearful of a power struggle in the nuclear-armed pariah state. | |
Commemorations are expected to continue on Thursday, with a three-minute silence at noon local time, followed by trains and ships sounding horns. The national memorial service will then begin. | |
The inter-Korean Kaesong industrial park has been closed for two days for the mourning following a North Korean request, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports. | The inter-Korean Kaesong industrial park has been closed for two days for the mourning following a North Korean request, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports. |