North Korea prepares for Kim's funeral

Dec 27, 2011, 11:32 GMT

Seoul - North Korea prepared Tuesday for the funeral of its leader Kim Jong Il as observers predicted the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of people to bid farewell to the man who ruled them for 17 years.

State media in the Stalinist country did not release details about the funeral plans, but Paik Hak Soon, a political scientist at the Sejong Institute think tank, said he expected it to follow a pattern similar to the ceremonies for Kim's father and North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung, in July 1994.

Hundreds of thousands of weeping people lined Pyongyang's streets as Kim Il Sung's coffin was driven by. His body was preserved and now lies at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, where his son's body has been lying in state since last week in a glass coffin, surrounded by red and white flowers.

Kim Jong Il died December 17 of a heart attack at 69, state media said. His third and youngest son, Kim Jong Un, was chosen as his successor to lead the impoverished, isolated nuclear power, which has one of the world's largest militaries.

The mourning period is to end Thursday. No foreign guests are to be allowed to attend the funeral although South Korea permitted two delegations to visit the North Monday and extend their condolences.

They were led by Lee Hee Ho, the widow of South Korean president Kim Dae Jung, who implemented the so-called Sunshine Policy with North Korea, and Hyun Jeong Eun, chairwoman of the Hyundai Group, which has led the South's business ties with the North.

Inter-Korean ties have been strained since conservative South Korean President Lee Myung Bak took office in 2008. Since then, North Korea has conducted its second nuclear test, withdrew from talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons programme, was accused of sinking a South Korean warship and bombarded a South Korean border island with artillery.