Mourners fill snowy streets for Kim Jong Il's funeral

NEW: Mourners wail and beat their chests along the route of the procession NEW: 'It's heart ripping,' says one soldier interviewed on state TV Kim Jong Un, the son of the late dictator, walks alongside the procession Observers will be watching the funeral for succession clues, analyst says (CNN) -- The funeral of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Il unfolded across the snow-laden streets of Pyongyang on Wednesday, with the secretive regime displaying its ability to choreograph dramatic state ceremonies. A North Korean state television broadcast of the services showed a tearful Kim Jong Un, the son and chosen successor of Kim Jong Il, trudging through the snow alongside a black car, carrying a giant portrait of Kim. Other senior officials followed, including Jang Song Taek, the younger Kim's uncle and a vice chairman of the National Defense Commission. Soldiers stood with their heads bowed, their caps in
hand. Their green uniforms contrasted starkly with the bright white snow as mournful music played. Throngs of emotional mourners lined the funeral procession's route. In footage the state television repeated several times, the mourners wailed and beat their chests, their hair damp from the falling snow. "That is our general," said one soldier interviewed by the station. "In this snow, we have to send him off and it's heart ripping." The snow also gave the country's state-run media fresh material with which to eulogize the dead leader. "The feathery snowfall reminds the Korean people of the snowy day when the leader was born in the secret camp of Mt. Paektu and of the great revolutionary career that he followed through snowdrifts," the agency KCNA said in a report Wednesday, referring to a mythical tale of Kim Jong Il's birth on a sacred mountain. var currExpandable="expand18"; if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);} var mObj={}; mObj.type='video'; mObj.contentId=''; mObj.source='world/2011/12/27/wr-intv-north-korea-kim-jong-il-funeral-analysis.cnn'; mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/111228020733-wr-intv-north-korea-kim-jong-il-funeral-analysis-00035306-story-body.jpg"; mObj.lgImageX=300; mObj.lgImageY=169; mObj.origImageX="214"; mObj.origImageY="120"; mObj.contentType='video'; CNN.expElements.expand18Store=mObj; N. Korea to convey message of unity? "All streets in Pyongyang and all towns and villages throughout the country are now inundated with people sweeping away snow before bidding their last farewell to the leader," the report said. "They, who spent a sleepless night, missing him, have turned out in all roads covered by him in his lifetime." var currExpandable="expand19"; if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);} var mObj={}; mObj.type='video'; mObj.contentId=''; mObj.source='world/2011/12/27/wr-amanpour-north-korea-trip-revisited.cnn'; mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/111228120116-wr-amanpour-north-korea-trip-revisited-00002612-story-body.jpg"; mObj.lgImageX=300; mObj.lgImageY=169; mObj.origImageX="214"; mObj.origImageY="120"; mObj.contentType='video'; CNN.expElements.expand19Store=mObj; Amanpour's N. Korea trip revisited The reclusive nation had revealed no details ahead of time about the funeral, where thousands of North Koreans were expected to file past a glass case housing the body of the elder Kim, revered as a godlike "dear leader" by his people. var currExpandable="expand110"; if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);} var mObj={}; mObj.type='video'; mObj.contentId=''; mObj.source='world/2011/12/27/hancocks-north-korea-prison-camps.cnn'; mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/111227115150-hancocks-north-korea-prison-camps-00010218-story-body.jpg"; mObj.lgImageX=300; mObj.lgImageY=169; mObj.origImageX="214"; mObj.origImageY="120"; mObj.contentType='video'; CNN.expElements.expand110Store=mObj; North Korea's prison camps Analysts were ready to parse the footage for clues on the transition under way within the reclusive state. Kim's funeral was expected to be modeled after that of his father, Kim Il Sung, in 1994, said Han Park, a professor at the University of Georgia's School of Public and International Affairs who is also director of the Globis Center for the Study of Global Issues. However, the funeral also gave a prominent role to Kim Jong Un, the man designated the "great successor" by the nation's Worker's Party. Questions have been raised about Kim Jong Un's ability to take the reins of the communist nation, given his young age -- he is thought to be in his late 20s -- and relative inexperience. State news media have described the younger Kim as "supreme leader" and "sun of the 21st century," suggesting he is succeeding in rallying support within the regime's hierarchy. Denny Roy, a North Korea analyst at the East-West Center in Honolulu, said observers outside North Korea will be performing "the usual Kremlinology -- except in this case it's Pyongyangology." They will be watching the ceremonies for clues as to where leading figures stand in the new hierarchy, comparing the event to the 1994 funeral of North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung. "What I expect to see is no sign that there's any hiccup or difficulty in Kim Jong Il's plan to have his son Kim Jong Un succeed him," Roy said before the funeral. Jang Song Taek, who was shown walking behind Kim Jong Un on Wednesday, is expected to serve as a regent for the younger Kim as he builds leadership experience, Roy said. The ceremony is to be followed by a memorial on Thursday. The state-run Korean Central News Agency said when the national memorial service is held Thursday, gun volleys will be fired in the capital, Pyongyang, as well as provincial seats. "All the people will observe three minutes' silence and all locomotives and ships (those on voyage included) will blow whistles and those units with sirens will sound them all at once," KCNA said. if(typeof CNN.expElements==='object'){CNN.expElements.init();} CNN's Ashley Hayes and Matt Smith contributed to this report.

Mourners fill snowy streets for Kim Jong Il's funeral 2011-12-27T23:15:00-08:00 Rating: 4.5 Diposkan Oleh: Undercover 999