Kim’s son leads mourning

Associated Press

PYONGYANG, North Korea

North Korea’s anointed heir Kim Jong Un led a solemn procession of mourners Tuesday to the glass coffin of his father and longtime ruler — a strong indication that a smooth leadership transition was under way in the country known for secrecy and unpredictability.

Weeping members of North Korea’s elite filed past the body of Kim Jong Il, which was draped in red cloth and surrounded by stony-faced honor guards and dozens of red and white flowers.

State media fed a budding personality cult around his youngest known son, hailing him as a “lighthouse of hope” as the country was awash in a “sea of tears and grief.”

In a dreamlike scene captured by Associated Press Television News, Kim’s coffin appeared to float on a raft of “kimjongilia” — the flowers named after him — with his head and shoulders bathed in a spotlight as solemn music played.

The bier was in a hall of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, a mausoleum where the embalmed body of Kim Jong Il’s father and North Korean founder Kim Il Sung has been on view in a glass sarcophagus since his death in 1994.

Kim Jong Il’s son and heir, Kim Jong Un, who is believed to be 27, wore a black Mao-style suit, his hair cropped closely on the sides but longer on top, as he walked with much older officials.

Stepping away from the group, Kim Jong Un bowed deeply, his expression serious, before circling the bier with other officials.

The announcement Monday of Kim’s death over the weekend raised acute worries in the region over the possibility of a power struggle between the untested son and rivals in an impoverished and reclusive country with a nuclear program.

But there have been no signs of unrest or discord in Pyongyang.

With the country in an 11-day period of official mourning, flags were at half-staff at all military units, factories, businesses, farms and public buildings. The streets of Pyongyang were quiet, but throngs gathered at landmarks honoring Kim.

Kim Jong Il died of a heart attack Saturday. A state funeral is set for Dec. 28 in Pyongyang, to be followed by a national memorial service the next day, according to state media.