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N.Korea acclaims new supreme leader at huge parade
  • | AFP | December 29, 2011 03:48 PM

North Korea Thursday staged a massive memorial service for late leader Kim Jong-Il attended by tens of thousands, and declared his untested young son and successor the supreme party and military chief.

 A North Korean TV screen grab shows Kim Jong-Un (3rd L) attending the mourning service of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il in Pyongyang on December 29. 
"Respected comrade Kim Jong-Un is the supreme leader of our party and the military who inherited Kim Jong-Il's spirit, leadership, personality, morality and fortitude," said ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-Nam.

Addressing a vast crowd filling a wintry Pyongyang square, he praised the late Kim for contributing to "global peace and stability of the 21st century".

Jong-Un, clad in a black overcoat, headed the platform. The official news agency also described him as "supreme leader of the party, state and army".

The service in Kim Il-Sung Square, named after the communist country's founder and father of the late Kim, will end 13 days of mourning following Kim Jong-Il's death on December 17 from a heart attack at the age of 69.

The country observed three minutes of silence nationwide at noon (0300 GMT), punctuated by the horns of ships and railway engine whistles.

The service follows Wednesday's pomp-filled funeral which analysts said was designed to bolster the image of Kim Jong-Un, who is in his late 20s and emerged from obscurity only in the past couple of years.

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