North Koreans mark 70th birthday of late leader Kim Jong Il

NORTH Koreans commemorated what would have been Kim Jong Il’S 70th birthday today, two months after his death.

In Pyongyang, new leader Kim Jong Un led senior officials and military leaders into a hall in Kumsusan Memorial Palace to bow before a large portrait of a smiling Kim Jong Il.

Hundreds more followed Kim Jong Un, lining up in rows in front of his father’s portrait to pay their respects before filing out of the hall under the watch of a uniformed honor guard with rifles. A huge wreath of flowers stood near the portrait.

At Kim Il Sung Square, the main plaza in the capital city, North Koreans bowed and laid flowers, including red “kimjongilia” begonias, at another portrait of Kim Jong Il hanging on the Grand People’s Study House. Among them was Paek Won Chol, who described himself as a “soldier and disciple” of Kim.

“I will devote my all for the building of a powerful and prosperous nation” under Kim’s son, Kim Jong Un, Paek said.

Last month, top leaders of the Workers’ Party announced that Kim Jong Il’s body would lie in state at Kumsusan beside his father.

Among those paying respects with Kim Jong Un were the country’s nominal head of state, Kim Yong Nam; Premier Choe Yong Rim; Kang Sok Ju, a vice premier who was Kim Jong Il’s key foreign policy adviser; and Kim Ok, a woman believed to have been Kim Jong Il’s companion.