Pyongyang, Dec 29 (IANS) North Korea Thursday held a national memorial service in Pyongyang to mourn its leader Kim Jong-il who died Dec 17.
The country held a state funeral Wednesday for the leader, who died from ‘great mental and physical strain’ on a train during a field guidance tour Dec 17, Xinhua reported.
TV images showed a huge military memorial parade was held in the capital city, and tens of thousands of people could be seen in the square.
Large numbers of Pyongyang residents gathered outside landmark buildings — such as the April 25 House of Culture and Pyongyang railway station — to listen to the broadcast of the ceremony.
‘Kim Jong Un, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) and supreme leader of the party, state and army of the country, took the platform,’ the state news agency KCNA said.
Choe Thae Bok, secretary of the Central Committee of the WPK and chairman of the DPRK’s Supreme People’s Assembly, hosted the ceremony.
After a performance of the ‘Song of General Kim Jong-il,’ Kim Yong Nam, member of the presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the WPK and president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, delivered a memorial speech.
He said Kim Jong-il devoted himself to ‘the accomplishment of the revolutionary cause of Juche, national reunification and global independence.’
He said Kim Jong-il’s death represents the biggest loss to the party and the state, and has brought unimaginable sorrow to the nation and its people.
