Daily Mail
reports
• Son and successor leads respects in Kumsusan Memorial Palace, Pyongyang
• North Korea in national period of mourning before state funeral on December 28
• Military pledges support for Kim Jong Un, declaring him 'born of heaven'
• But concerns are raised over transition of power to relatively unknown third son
• U.S. calls for peaceful transition of power in reclusive nation
The body of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il has been laid in state in a glass coffin as weeping mourners filled public squares across the country.
State television showed still images of the 'dear leader's' body in the open coffin, surrounded by wreaths and covered with a red blanket
Jong Un - his third son and successor - paid his respects to his father along with top military and Workers' Party officials during a 'solemn ceremony'.
North Korea is in an 11-day period of official mourning, with flags flown at half-mast at all military units, factories, businesses, farms and public buildings.
The streets of the capital Pyongyang were quiet, but crowds of people gathered at landmarks to mourn Kim Jong Il who died suddenly on Saturday from a massive heart attack at the age of 69.
His body was lying in state in the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, a mausoleum where the embalmed body of his father - national founder Kim Il Sung - has been on display in a glass sarcophagus since his death in 1994.
A state funeral will be held there on December 28.
Ri Ho Il, a lecturer at the Korean Revolutionary History Museum, said: 'Our General is our people's benevolent father. He defended our people's happiness, carrying on his forced march night and day.'
Since Kim Jong Il's death, state media have stepped up their lavish praise of his son Kim Jong Un in an effort to strengthen a cult of personality around him similar to that of his father.
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