Kim visits his father's mausoleum, pays tribute

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited his father and former leader Kim Jong-il's mausoleum, the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, and paid tribute to him, its state media reported on Friday.

"Kim paid his "high tribute" to Kim Jong-il at the mausoleum at the stroke of midnight to mark the late leader's birth anniversary, called the Day of the Shining Star", according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

"He entered the hall of immortality where Kim Jong-il lies in state and paid deep homage and made a bow," it was quoted as saying.

According to the Yonhap news agency, the mausoleum located in North Korea's Pyongyang, is the resting place of Kim's father as well as his grandfather, Kim-il Sung, both of whom have been declared as the "eternal leaders" of North Korea by the government.

A group of North Korean high-rank party officials accompanied Kim on the trip. Among them were Choe Ryong-hae, vice chairman of the party's central committee, and Ri Su-yong, the committee's vice chairman for international affairs.

No military officials were reportedly accompanying the North Korean leader to the mausoleum.

Marking the 77th birth anniversary of Kim Jong-il's on Friday, the Rodong Sinmun">Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's mainstream party newspaper, "flaunted" the former leader's nuclear achievement.

"The republic's victory of building a state nuclear force is part of (Kim Jong-il's) revolutionary accomplishment," the newspaper said in a column.

The Kumsusan palace was built in 1976 as the Kumsusan Assembly Hall and served as Kim Il-sung's official residence. Following his death in 1994, his son Kim Jong-il had the building renovated and transformed it into his father's mausoleum.

After Kim Jong-il died in 2011, his son and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered his officials to keep his mortal remains in the mausoleum next to his grandfather.

Both the bodies of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il are embalmed and lie inside a clear glass coffin inside the mausoleum, covered by the flag of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea.

--ANI