North Koreans mourn Kim Jong Il 1 year later

 
North Koreans across the country stopped in their tracks at midday Monday to silently honor former ruler Kim Jong Il, whose death one year ago swept his untested 20-something son to power.                   

Pyongyang construction workers took off their yellow hard hats and bowed at the waist as sirens wailed across the city for three minutes. The son, Kim Jong Un, presided over a solemn ceremony to reopen the sprawling granite mausoleum where his father's embalmed remains will lie in state near those of his grandfather, the nation's founder Kim Il Sung.       

Tens of thousands of North Koreans gathered in the frigid plaza outside the renovated hall where Kim Jong Il's body was to go on public display later Monday. Lined with snow-tinged firs, the square has been turned into a park at Kim Jong Un's orders and his father's portrait installed on the building's faade alongside that of Kim Il Sung.                    

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 his pudgy young son leading ranks of uniformed and gray-haired officials through a series of funeral and mourning rites.


AP