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DPRK's Kim marks father's death

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-09 08:09

DPRK leader Kim Jong-il takes part in the 15th anniversary of the death of his father and country's founder Kim Il-sung in Pyongyang Wednesday, in this frame grab taken from TV footage. [Reuters]

PYONGYANG: A thin-looking Kim Jong-il made a rare public appearance Wednesday as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) paid solemn respects to his father, the country's late founder, on the 15th anniversary of his death.

The memorial was the second major state event that the 67-year-old Kim has attended in person since reportedly suffering a stroke last summer. In early April, he presided over a parliamentary meeting where he was re-elected as the nation's leader.

Footage from broadcaster APTN showed Kim dressed in a khaki suit, looking more gaunt and with less hair than in April. As in April, he limped slightly while walking into the packed Pyongyang auditorium in what is believed to be an effect from the stroke.

Kim bowed his head during a moment of silence. A portrait of a giant red flag with an image of his father, a smiling Kim Il-sung, dominated the backdrop.

Kim's health has sparked concerns about instability and a power struggle if he were to die without naming a successor. His third and youngest son, Kim Jong-un, has widely been reported as being groomed as heir, but the government has made no formal announcement.

Wednesday's memorial came after the DPRK conducted a number of banned ballistic missile tests last weekend, fueling tensions already running high after Pyongyang's second nuclear test on May 25 led to punishing UN sanctions.

Related readings:  DPRK eyed in cyber attack in US, ROK  UN Security Council condemns DPRK's missile launches  Accuracy of DPRK missiles improves  Chinese, Russian ministers discuss DPRK nuclear issue  ROK: DPRK fires 7 missiles off east coast

Pyongyang used the memorial to criticize the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK).

"We will sternly smash the US imperialist forces and [the ROK's] puppet regime anti-unification plot," said Kim Yong-nam, the DPRK's No 2 leader. "We will achieve the historical mission of national unification by realizing" Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il's policies for that.

Kim Il-sung died of heart failure on July 8, 1994 at the age of 82.

Streams of DPRK residents visited a huge bronze statue of their late founder standing on a hill overlooking the capital. They laid flowers and bowed repeatedly.

"The great leader, President Kim Il Sung, is always alive - not only in the hearts of our people, but also in the minds of people all over the world," said Hwang In San, a Pyongyang resident.

The DPRK's Korean Central News Agency reported that the younger Kim visited the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang, where Kim Il-sung's embalmed body lies, accompanied by top military generals.

Kim Jong-il assumed power after his father's death, though he did not take on his father's title of president. He runs the DPRK from his post as chairman of the National Defense Commission.

AP