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Korean Central TV of the North via Reuters
The body of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il lies in state at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang in this still picture taken from video footage of still images aired by KRT (Korean Central TV of the North) on Dec. 20, 2011.
The Associated Press reports from PYONGYANG, North Korea:
The body of North Korea's long-time ruler Kim Jong Il was laid out in a memorial palace Tuesday as weeping mourners filled public plazas and state media fed a budding personality cult around his third son, hailing him as "born of heaven."
Indicating the leadership transition in the world's only communist dynasty is on track, Kim Jong Un — Kim's youngest known son and successor — visited the body with top military and Workers' Party officials and held what state media called a "solemn ceremony" in the capital, Pyongyang, as the country mourned.
The Korean people were in "deep sorrow at the loss of the benevolent father of our nation," Ri Ho Il, a lecturer at the Korean Revolutionary History Museum, told The Associated Press in Pyongyang.
"He defended our people's happiness, carrying on his forced march both night and day," Ri said.
Korean Central TV of the North via Reuters
Medals belonging to Kim Jong Il are displayed as he lies in state at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace.
Still images aired on state TV showed that the glass coffin holding Kim's body was surrounded by his namesake flowers — red "kimjongilia" blossoms. He was covered with a red blanket, his head placed on a white pillow.
The coffin was in a room of 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.
The state funeral is to be held at the palace on Dec. 28. Read the full story.
Korean Central TV of the North via Reuters
Kim Jong Un pays his respects to his father lying in state at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace.
As the body of North Korea's long-time ruler Kim Jong Il lies on display in a glass coffin, the world is trying to figure out what direction the secretive nation will take now. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
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Leave a Comment:
Son "born of heaven"????
I thought these people were atheist communists.
The Korean people were in "deep sorrow at the loss of the benevolent father of our nation," Ri Ho Il, a lecturer at the Korean Revolutionary History Museum, told The Associated Press in Pyongyang.
"He defended our people's happiness, carrying on his forced march both night and day," Ri said" and, "The Korean people were in "deep sorrow at the loss of the benevolent father of our nation,"
Defended their happiness, giving them the right to smile as they starve to death because of the policies of their "benevolent" father! What a crock of $hit!
Did you notice that even in death, they tried to make him appear taller than he was. I'll bet that red tarp extends a good 12 inches further than the little bastards feet.
On the subject of looking taller,I asked yesterday.Who did this little fat toad rat bastard leave his shoe lifts or plat forms to?
I heard that this stubby little dictator claimed to be a god but it seems to me that he is still lying under this glass coffin and don't seem to be moving. That's a good thing.
UGLY LITTLE TOAD!
Then there's these robots with their FAKE BOO HOOING!
Ted in Arizona, you're right on that one.Unfortunately it'll be short lived.
You see the other junior fat ugly little toad?He's in charge and is probably worse than the other fat ugly daddy toad!
So long, fat-boy dictator. Tubby junior will undoubtedly prove to be as big a fat idiot as his grotesque old man. Wherever they bury that dung-heap, the snow around his grave will be yellow every time it snows.
Yes, all of north Korea weeps for Kim... of course, what the Thought Police couldn't get from them is that they are shedding tears of joy, not tears of sorrow. Fortunately, they look the same on the outside.
All in all, 2011 has been a good year... we have seen the end of bin Ladin, Ghadaffi and Il, and soon we shall see the end of the republic.. wait.. wrong movie...
Starwars Reference FTW! you sir, have made my day :)
Weeping?? Weeping my a**!! Crying and yet, no tears to be seen. Oh how sad, the world has lost an evil despot. There is nothing good to say about Kim Jong Eel.
when bush junior dies i will piss on is grave.
Doncha just love civil discourse?
Born in heaven? I thought these people were atheists. Benevelant ruler, what kind of benevelant ruler sits idly by while the majority of his country is undernourished , impoverished and genrally speaking just plain miserable. If this J*ck*ss was born in heaven, when I die I would rather go to h*ll, as a place with him in it could in no wise be a place I would want to spend eternity. The world is a better place without him.
I saw a video of these people crying over his death the other day and it just looked so fake and melodramatic. They were jumping around, screaming, pounding their fists on desks and crying like the way my 2 year old daughter cries when she isn't getting her way. It really looked like they were putting on a show for others or because they had cameras on them. I definitely got the sense they were reacting this way because they were afraid, brainwashed, or felt like they were "supposed to" react this way. Perhaps all of the above.
It's quite possible a lot of the tears were real. Consider life in an ironclad totalitarian country like North Korea: To begin with...the only radio & TV is state-controlled. You don't have a phone, and forget about the internet. Everything you know has been force-fed to you by the government. It's a government centered around the philosophy of "juche"...TOTAL self-reliance as a nation. Any problems for the country are ALL caused by external forces...thus the basis for North Korea's eternal "struggle". The North Korean government has now had over 60 years to indoctrinate the populace...we're talking 3 generations now. There can only be a handful of people left who may remember the pre-communist days...the rest have been born & raised to believe in the "Dear Leader" or whatever monicker the government chooses to bestow...a classic cult of personality. Factor in the ease by which malnourished people can be brainwashed and you can see how they may react.
You cannot forget the fact that North Korea has one of the largest, if not THE largest, standing armies in the world...all dependent upon the ruler for their position. The army WILL do as they are ordered, since that guarantees their next bowl of rice.
Where, in comparison to this country, the media spins the news based on which political party holds the controlling interest of that particular network's stock, and while not force-fed, it is instead coated with just enough appeal to make it more addictive than crack, and more brain-damaging than an ice-pick lobotomy in a dune buggy. Ours is based around the philosophy of "douche", and we tune in night after night to listen to one lying pot calling the other lying kettle black.
Those people who are making a fuss over this lil midget's death probably got a red potato or two from their show....
I take it his son eats better than the average North Korean.....someone tell him to call Jenny Craig.
Yeah true, his dad had a good old American epidemic called diabetes. looks like the boy didn't fall far from the tree.
Let's just hope that his son isn't a dick like his father.
Born of Heaven? Since when does an atheist nation ever say anything related to a heaven. This guy's soul is burning in the deepest regoins of hell. For all you other atheists out there, if you believe in good and bad then this guy falls in the bad catagory. How do you celebrate a life in which he gave nothing and took everything? God will damn him. Too bad one has to die in order for that to happen, because we don't get to see it.
Dude, sorry to break it to ya... there is no heaven or hell. He's just dead, stone dead, a stiff - just like boner on your first night out. Enough said.
A question: Do they have to pay the fake mourners money or do they just hold their AK-47's off screen?
I not axis of evil....... I Deal Makerrrrrrrrr. You want nuclear weapon?
I love the picture of all of the fake medals he gave himself! What a turd!!
To apply all this up-lifting but phony fanfare and pageantry to this creep is incredulous to me. This man took millions upon millions of people, emptied them out emotionally through starvation and propaganda, to the point they would be brain washed into human robots. He's at the pinnacle of the worst dictators in history. He has cold-bloodedly murdered countless people for the slightest infractions. And if that weren't bad enough, his whole family gets alot of their money through drug trade (a very large part) and counterfeiting the American dollar to the tune of billions and billions of bucks . . . North Korea is a "family business", and anything or anyone that threatens the family money makers conveniently disappear. Personally I rejoice in this man's death -- his brand of tyranny is over! . . . what's to fill that void remains to be seen. But I don't see any democratic elections taking place any time soon.
Can I get a copy of that photo for my Christmas cards? Wow! What a scary group of people. "Born of Heaven"? are you kidding? What a Clown Show that country is. Dumpy with his three stooges hair cut is going to lead this bunch of ass clowns? Good luck! Sure is nice to see that little runt dead!
They should cover him with a pink dress, not a red blanket. Like father like son, both look so feminine that the hottest prostitute in LA is envious.
Say hello to Saddam, Kadhafi, Hitler, Stalin, Franco, Mussolini, Castro, and all the likes.
Dear Kim Tim Buk Tu - poo poo to you :-)
That's a load of horse crap if I ever heard one.
This is a silly conversation. Everyone wants to blame Good Ol Republican Bush for everything that is wrong in America but wasn't congress Democratic at the time? As far as people in North Korea not owning their own home and every thing belongs to the stae- We have that here in America. It's called iminent domain and states the government can take anything you own for their own purposes. How is that different from North Korea?Who is taking away our rights now? I have insurance by choice now but how much will the prices go up when it becomes MANDATORY? Who did that for our country? We have no free choice here in America either.
WTF are you talking about? I suggest you remove you head from Bush's a$$ and try to breathe some air.
I'm too distraught to comment right now.
From looking at him in the glass case, he sorta looks like one of the people he forced starvation on, guess he's in purgatory now pleading for his soul, LOL..........Shogun
"He defended our people's happiness, carrying on his forced march both night and day," Ri said
Really? his people were happy? The very few pictures that I have seen of "his" people did not look very happy.
Kim was a Son of a Butcher...........Shogun