North Korea today lays to rest Kim Jong-Il, who armed his nation with nuclear weapons while more than 1 million of his people starved to death, in a ceremony observers may scrutinize for signs of the regime’s new power hierarchy under son Kim Jong-Un.
North Korean state media refrained from providing details on the procession, to which foreign delegations weren’t invited. Analysts and South Korean media said the funeral will mimic that of the North’s founder, Kim Il-Sung, in 1994. The elder’s ceremony lasted one hour and involved the new leader making a tour of the coffin aside the country’s top officials, Yonhap News said.
“Watching how people are aligned around Kim Jong-Un tomorrow, we can have a clue on the power dynamic in the North Korean leadership,” said Paik Hak-Soon, a director of inter-Korean relations at the Seongnam, South Korea-based Sejong Institute research group. Bloomberg News
