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Ng Han Guan / AP
North Koreans clap beneath part of a slogan that calls on people to carry out the revolutionary ideology of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang, North Korea on Monday.
PYONGYANG, North Korea — The embalmed body of Kim Jong Il, still in his trademark khaki jumpsuit, was unveiled on the anniversary of the North Korea leader's death Monday as mourning mixed with pride over a recent satellite launch that was a long-held goal of the late authoritarian leader.
Kim lies in state a few floors below his father, national founder Kim Il Sung, in the Kumsusan mausoleum, the cavernous former presidential palace.
Kim Jong Il was presented lying beneath a red blanket, a spotlight shining on his face in a room suffused in red.
Wails echoed through the chilly hall as a group of North Korean women sobbed into the sashes of their traditional Korean dresses as they bowed before his body.
North Korean state television showed a pudgy Kim Jong Un and his wife paying homage on Monday at a national memorial service at the mausoleum.
Pregnant? North Korea leader's wife reportedly returns to public eye after long silence
In the footage, Kim's wife, Ri Sol-ju, was wearing traditional Korean black mourning clothes and looked to be pregnant - in accordance with recent rumors - but there was no official announcement on her status by North Korean media.
North Korea also unveiled Kim's yacht and his armored train carriage, where he is said to have died. Among the personal belongings featured in the mausoleum are the parka, sunglasses and pointy platform shoes he famously wore in the last decades of his life. A MacBook Pro lay open on his desk.
'Event with great significance'
North Koreans paid homage to Kim and basked in the success of last week's launch of a long-range rocket that sent a satellite named after him to space.
Ng Han Guan / AP
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, officially reopens the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun mausoleum in Pyongyang, North Korea on Monday.
The launch, condemned in many other capitals as a violation of bans against developing its missile technology, was portrayed not only as a gift to Kim Jong Il but also as proof that his young son, Kim Jong Un, has the strength and vision to lead the country.
North Korean satellite 'tumbling out of control,' US officials say
The elder Kim died last Dec. 17 from a heart attack while traveling on his train. His death was famously followed by scenes of North Koreans dramatically wailing in the streets of Pyongyang, and of the 20-something son leading ranks of uniformed and gray-haired officials through funeral and mourning rites.
The mood in the capital was decidedly more upbeat a year later, with some of the euphoria carrying over from last Wednesday's launch.
North Korea claims discovery of 'unicorn lair'
North Koreans across the country stopped in their tracks at midday to bow their heads and honor the former ruler as the national flag fluttered at half-staff along streets and from buildings.
China has offered a rare criticism of Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, after the country fired a long-range rocket that has been described by U.S. officials as a weapons test. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
Pyongyang construction workers took off their yellow hard hats and bowed at the waist as sirens wailed across the city for three minutes. Earlier, Kim Jong Un attended a solemn ceremony to reopen the sprawling granite mausoleum where his father and his grandfather lie in state in separate halls.
Tens of thousands of North Koreans gathered in the frigid plaza outside, newly transformed into a public park with lawns and pergolas.
Speaking outside the mausoleum, renamed the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, the military's top political officer, Choe Ryong Hae, said North Korea should be proud of the satellite, calling it "a political event with great significance in the history of Korea and humanity."
North Korea pays tribute to Kim Jong Il's 'threadbare and discolored' parka
Much of the rest of the world, however, was swift in condemning the launch, which was seen by the United States and other nations as a thinly disguised cover for testing missile technology that could someday be used for a nuclear warhead.
The test, which potentially violates a United Nations ban on North Korean missile activity, underlined Kim Jong Un's determination to continue carrying out his father's hardline policies even if they draw international condemnation.
Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., talks about the mounting international pressure on North Korea and Syria for their recent rebellious behavior.
Despite inviting further isolation for his impoverished nation and the threat of stiffer sanctions, Kim Jong Un won national prestige and clout by going ahead with the rocket launch.
ANALYSIS: 'Spoiled child' North Korea snubs key ally China with rocket test
The reopening of the mausoleum on the anniversary of the leader's death also follows tradition. Kumsusan, the palace where his father, Kim Il Sung, served as president, was reopened as a mausoleum on the first anniversary of his death in 1994.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
The fat little tyrant has been dead all this time and women are crying. How many folks believe that BS? He could be buried 200 feet down and still not deep enough. These people are demented beyond belief.
The Mummy Returns... at least in the North Korean version?
So who really gives a damn.
Each time we see these photos from North Korea, I wonder how stiff the penalty must be for an individual if caught smiling? Dispatch to one of that state's gulag of re-education camps, perhaps?
We already know that nation's death rate from starvation is high. I suspect the suicide rate is higher still. What a sad, dark and pathetic corner of the world.
Alan-962575 wrote:
Alan, yes, I agree with you ...if your meaning in using the term "demented" is: "Driven to behave irrationally."
The common people of North Korea have no choice. The alternative to following precisely the orders of the state ...is death. The people are "driven" by that autocracy to behave irrationally, through fear,paranoia, distress, hunger, desperation and total ignorance of the truth.
Most will never travel outside of their borders, nor will they have any means whatsoever of gaining any insight of the real world outside of their borders.
I suspect that were we to relocate any one of them into modern Western society, and give them a month or two to digest the culture shock (and to process the shock of the tsunami of sudden knowledge that they had been lied to for their entire lives) ...we would soon discover that the North Korean people are just like us.
I have had the privilege of meeting a lot of people from different cultures in most corners of the World, and that is the lasting impression that has stayed with me from each of those experiences. We are all the same. And that's what makes the very existence of that monstrous state, North Korea, all the more sad.
"All mourners shall report to the city center square at 6pm for mandatory wailing. Tardiness or failure to show will result in a fine and imprisonment of no less than 3 months. Thank you, have a nice day"
Worthless news article of one of the most distrusted enemies of our Nation.
I am surprised they did not plasticize his corpse instead of just embalming it, that would preserve it a little better. I guess the North Koreans do not have the technology to do that. I do not understand the idea of keeping a dead body on display for such an extended period of time. I understand a brief period for people to pay their last respects, but after that they should just entomb the person. I can not imagine what Kim Il Sung's body must look like after 19 years on display, I would imagine it must be all dried up and shriveled. Who in their right mind would want to look at something like that. I wonder just how long they plan on keeping these bodies on display.
I am sure that the mourners present were instructed to cry or they would be given a real reason to and that the people who "stopped in their tracks" at noon were well aware of the consequences if they did not. After all, North Korea is, if nothing else, about putting on a good show.
I saw Kim Il Sung's body a few years ago and he looked better than Lenin or Mao.
I have not yet seen Marcos or Ho Chi Minh.... and I was sure after visiting Turkmenistan (very unusual country) that Turkmenbashi would be embalmed, but alas he was not.
Wonder if they sawed the little fart in half and stretched him out to six foot tall like he always wanted to be.
They probably sewed a banana in his pants pocket, too.
The free world has been presented with a powerful new weapon in sanctions to impose on the recalcitrant North Koreans!
We must immediately gather our allies and foes alike under the banner of three simple words that will bring the North Koreans to their knees:
Air Freshener Embargo!
5 will get you 10 they capitulate no later than midway through the winter thaw. Bank on it.
I have no doubt these women wailing with honest and true wailing due to despair...despair that they will never have a decent meal or decent lives while the mummy daddy is displayed in surroundings that they know they would never be able to obtain given their situation.
...sigh...my sympathies to the people of North Korea.
Thank you, JS.
So now, after suffering through decades of his misrule, North Korea gets to view his dessicated corpse for years to come.
Kim Jung Il is truly the gift which keeps giving.
They should bury that pile of kimchi in the backyard and forget about it.
...except, I like Kimchi...I just don't want that <insert colorful explicative here> ex-"leader" anywhere NEAR my backyard!
Love it...kind of makes him like a Chia Pet.
And now, for something completely different I give you ...
ATLAS OBSCURA'S GUIDE TO COMMUNIST MUMMIES
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/atlas-obscura-s-guide-to-communist-mummies
:-)
PS. How do they handle the smell? Maybe that explains the presence of so many Chinese Lilies surrounding all of those Commie fire-logs!
Alan, you do recall the mass executions that happened last time, at his father's death, because people didn't appear to be weeping and showing enough sorrow, right? When word got out that was happening, after awhile, folks instead were sent to prison and harsh labor camps. Can you blame them for making sure that didn't happen a second time?
It really isn't this pudgy kid who is in control.It is the old military behind him. He is really a puppet. He just doesn't know it quite yet.Or if he does,as long as he gives them what they want, he can put on a good show. But watch out for the day, they decide, or he does, to part ways.
North Korea will then be a loose cannon, that doesn't give a damn what anyone in the world thinks. Except perhaps their starving people who might revolt one day. Obedience will only get you so far. Facing starvation can be quite a motivating tool Look what it did for Russia in 1917.
North Korea still has a chance at American-style democracy. I'm waiting for the day Kim Jong Un says, "It's Kim Jong Il's fault."
Now I'm reery reery ronerey.
How disrespectful of the writer of this story to speak of the now leader as being pudgy. What reason was there for that statement to be put into the story except to prove they have no actual skills that are required to write up a news story. It is the same with other world leaders being spoken about as if they have to be demeaned in order for the story to get attention. Respect for other humans has gone down the toilet.
Before anyone jumps down my throat for my comment, please think about how many news events you have read on this site that are actually based on fact without having to put someone down.
I could care less how they describe this worthless piece of well you know. He had his chance of making things better for his people, but yet decided to follow his fathers footsteps. Eating multiple lobsters and caviar while people are starving to death.
What's wrong fatso, a little thin skinned because it's stretched so tight? How can you type with a sandwich in each hand. Commy.
@ weallhaveopinions and smootmahooty... wow aren't you two just the embodiment of niceness... you say we all have opinions but then go on to try to demean anyone whose opinion is different than yours. As for Smoot, you are way off in your assessment as well... my comment had to do with how news 'stories' today are written, I am not agreeing with this man's politics.
RESPECT??!!
REALLY? These people have no respect for the North Korean People...and you're mad because they called Kim Jong Un fat....because he is, and the rest of his country is starving? I doubt you care enough to back up your comment!
Nope...regardless...we are still going to jump down your throat.
This is a family of worthless bastards...and Kim Jong Un is FAT. As in, eats too damn much FAT. (You know...like many Americans!)
Yes, I feel so bad for the mass murdering dictator because an MSNBC writer had the gall to point out he is a bit pudgy.
Smoot Mahooty, you are suspended for a week for violating rule # 1 of the Code of Honor.
Go eat some cheese
He's their version of the eternally viewed Lenin I suppose
These are some morbid little bastards. I don't like attending funerals when the deceased is newly embalmed, I couldn't imagine going and paying respects for one that has been dead for a year.
Kim Jong ILL's dead corpse does resemble the face of Damien Lucifer. He even has the number 666 tattooed in his pretzel filled a**.
The world really needs one more, pickled, stuffed dictator. Thanks for the trend Lenin!! At least the communist undertakers are employed. To keep this twit pickled and on display is a monumental task. He's likely been "soaking" for a year...and not in Palmolive :).
Why didn't they shoot him into space to circle the world forever? Kinda like a short superman.
Why didn't they shoot him into space to circle the world forever? Kinda like a short superman.
I've been to the mausoleum and seen Kim Il Sung laying in state. I must say it is quite impressive... they have spent a fortune on it with marble floors etc. (you have to wear special shoe covers). There were thousands of Koreans there and they seemed genuinely emotional about it. It is definitely a religious experience for many (Kimilsungism).
For the Western visitor, you need to suspend reality temporarily.
get tired of hearing about the freak show government in north Korea and their baby baby face leader. just let Kim Jog 2 rot like everybody else. it would be money better spent buying food for the starving people. that baby face looks pretty fat though.
Crazy SOBs
gross
Now I get it - satellite launch, unveiling of the royal carcass, spotlight on face... It's all coming together. NK is bouncing light waves off of Il's spectacles to communicate with their new satellite, which in turn emits microwaves back to NK that induce citizens to sob uncontrollably.
It's not really him. Have you seen any embalmed bodies lately? They look dead -- or worse. It's probably a wax mask on a fake body, since absolutely nobody is ever going to be allowed to touch it, they can make him look as alive as they want. His real body has probably been ground up and dumped in a post hole somewhere.
It's Weekend At Bernie's, only on a national scale. Meanwhile, up in space, that old refrigerator they bankrupted themselves to put up there is tumbling out of control in a quickly decaying orbit. Kim's desiccated corpse is pleased, though, and that's what counts.
They should have put an apple in the fat pigs mouth.
Fatty Junior could be a star if South Park ever remakes the Chinpokomon episode. "We now have nucrear weapon! We bomb you long time! Me so horny!"
This is what Brainwashing will do to people. This fat Little Ruler has some Murderous looking eyes. I wouldn't be surprised if he turns out worse than his Father.
The people of North Korea are so brainwashed and so totally isolated that they believe, absolutely, everything their goverment says, unicorns and all. That's really sad.
Mummy dearest.
What? The trash compactor was out of commission............
Lil Kim don't see you clap long and hard, and it's off with your head. Then again, it's the generals that run N Korea.
Why didn't they shoot him into a sewage plant sludge pool with a wood chipper, and let him settle in amongst his own kind? And Fatty Junior should be blasted in as well, although all that suet would probably take a long time to settle to the bottom, stinking up the place while it rots.