N. Korea’s Kim pays respects to late father at family mausoleum on death anniversary
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un paid his highest tribute to late state leader and his father Kim Jong-il at the family mausoleum Wednesday, marking the 14th anniversary of his death, state media reported.
Accompanied by government and party officials, Kim visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang at midnight, paid tribute to the late leader and prayed “for his immortality,” the Korean Central News Agency said.
The Kumsusan Palace of the Sun serves as the family mausoleum, where the embalmed bodies of the North’s founder Kim Il-sung — Kim Jong-un’s grandfather — and Kim Jong-il are enshrined.
Kim Jong-il died on Dec. 17, 2011, at the age of 70, passing on the leadership he had inherited from his father, North Korean founder Kim Il-sung, to his youngest son, Kim Jong-il.
Except in 2022, Kim Jong-un has paid tribute to his father at the family mausoleum every year on his death anniversary.
The incumbent leader bowed before the statues of both late leaders “as an expression of noble respects” and flower baskets were laid before the statues, the KCNA said.
“All the visitors made a firm pledge to remain true, with their whole heart and loyalty, to the ideology and leadership of Kim Jong Un who is glorifying the patriotic exploits of Kim Jong-il by opening up a new glorious history of comprehensive national rejuvenation,” the KCNA said.
Those who accompanied Kim on Wednesday’s visit included members of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the ruling party, officials from the party’s Central Committee, members of the cabinet and army service members, the agency said. (Yonhap)
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