"Please come back to the people you loved so much," the state news agency quoted one army officer as saying as he viewed the bier of late leader Kim Jong-Il whose body is lying in state under a glass coffin.
Official media has reported mass mourning, said to involve five million people in Pyongyang alone, since Kim's death was announced Monday. The nation has been urged to rally round his son Kim Jong-Un as the "great successor".
Even nature is heartbroken, according to the news agency which in its characteristic style reported weather phenomena at his supposed birthplace and a Manchurian crane adopting a posture of grief.
Kim Jong-Il and his father Kim Il-Sung, who ruled the communist nation with an iron fist since its creation in 1948, were the subject of an extravagant personality cult.
The latest dynastic ruler, aged in his late 20s, is also being showered with praise but remains a figure of mystery to the outside world. He was pictured Wednesday weeping at his father's coffin.
Elsewhere North Korean media has shown mourners braving freezing conditions to pay their respects to Kim senior, weeping in a park blanketed with snow as they laid flowers for the leader who presided over a disastrous 1990s famine.
Analysts expect little upheaval -- at least for now -- since regime members at present have a vested interest in preserving the status quo.
The United States, the North's traditional enemy, said it wants to work with the new regime when a 13-day mourning period ends.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland was cautious about the future of diplomacy, but said the US hoped in the future to resume dialogue over possible US food aid.
"Obviously, we want to continue working on these issues," Nuland told reporters, referring to the discussions.
US and North Korean officials held talks last week in Beijing about the practicalities of food aid. Pyongyang has been pressing for months for help to address what foreign aid groups say is severe hunger.
The State Department had been expected to make decisions starting Monday. But instead its meetings were dominated by the bombshell news of Kim's death and his replacement by his untested son.
South Korea put its military on alert but the Pentagon said Wednesday that no unusual North Korean military movements had been observed across the tense border.
Seoul has struck a conciliatory note after more than a year of high tensions along the world's last Cold War frontier. It sent a message of sympathy to the North's people and said it would allow private groups to send condolence messages to its neighbour.
Relations have been icy since South Korea accused its neighbour of torpedoing a warship in March 2010 with the loss of 46 lives.
In November last year the North shelled a border island, killing four South Koreans and briefly sparking fears of war.
Years-long efforts to shut down the North's nuclear weapons programme have been put on hold after the death. South Korea's nuclear envoy was to leave for China later Thursday to discuss the way ahead.
Six-party talks on denuclearisation have been at a standstill since December 2008. But negotiations to revive the forum appeared to be making progress before Kim's death last Saturday.
Media reports said Pyongyang would agree to suspend its uranium enrichment programme in return for food aid from Washington.
Nuclear envoy Lim Sung-Nam will meet his counterpart Wu Dawei to assess the situation on the Korean peninsula and how to respond to Kim's death, Seoul's foreign ministry said.
South Korean media and some legislators meanwhile denounced China's reaction to Kim's death and accused it of alienating the South in order to strengthen its clout with the North.
China, the North's sole major ally, threw its backing behind Jong-Un hours after the death announcement.
President Hu Jintao personally offered his condolences during a surprise visit to the North Korean embassy in Beijing on Tuesday.
The moves, coupled with Seoul's perceived inability to communicate with Beijing after the death, sparked criticism from the South's media and lawmakers.
President Lee Myung-Bak had phone conversations with leaders of the United States, Japan and Russia after the death announcement. He has not talked with Hu.
"How can we interpret this situation where our president cannot even speak to Hu Jintao when he (Hu) has time to personally visit the North Korean embassy?" said Park Sun-Young of the Liberty Forward Party Tuesday.
"Are China and South Korea really strategic partners?" JoongAng Ilbo said in an editorial Thursday, calling Beijing "arrogant" and "incomprehensible".
-AFP/ac
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Consulting, Investment and Management, focusing three main economic sectors: International PR; Healthcare & Wellness;and Tourism & Hospitality. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programs. Sign up with twitter to get news updates with @SaigonBusinessC. Thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment