Scenes of a Harmonious Whole in the Mourning Period

Scenes of a Harmonious Whole in the Mourning Period

Leader Kim Jong Il, General Secretary of Workers’ Party of Korea and Chairman of the National Defence Commission of DPRK, who had been on the spot guidance tour for the people throughout his life, passed away on a running train on December 17, 2011.

The WPK and Government of the DPRK set mourning period from 17 to 29 December.

The period witnessed a legend-like reality showing the harmonious whole between the leader and the people.

After the broadcasting of the sad news a total of over 5 million people visited the statues of President Kim Il Sung during 24 hours from noon on December 19 to noon the next day in Pyongyang.

Within two days after the news a total of 43 920 000 people across the country visited mourning sites and placed wreaths, bouquets and flowers and mourned over the demise of Kim Jong Il in bitter grief.

A total of 2 714 000 servicepersons of the People’s Army, officials, working people, students and children stood guards. Afterwards the number increased out of count.

In the snowy morning they took off their padded clothes and covered wreaths with them at the mourning sites for fear they would get wet.

A mass of crowd converged on the mourning sites where portraits of smiling Kim Jong Il were set up and adjacent roads and regions across the country.

The mourners had to walk the distance of 200 meters more than 4 hours from the entrance to the mourning site to Kim Jong Il’s portrait because the people would not leave the portrait, bitterly crying.

The fact shows how crowded the mourning sites were and how ardent the mourners’ reverence for Kim Jong Il was.

The local people traveled some 40 km to their provincial seats to pay respects to the portraits of smiling Kim Jong Il.

Wreaths placed at mourning sites in Pyongyang alone number more than 400 000.

More than 50 000 people visited the Kumsusan Memorial Palace to express their condolences before the bier of the deceased. They included officials of Party, armed forces and Government organs, working people’s organizations, ministries and national institutions and servicepersons of the People’s Army and working peoples of different social standings.

Despite of the severe cold 27 ℃ below zero many people visited the old home of Kim Jong Il in the Paektusan Secret Camp located in Samjiyon County, Ryanggang Province, to express their condolences.

In the 10-day period of mourning 260 million servicepersons of the People’s Army, working people of different strata, youths and children expressed their condolences at different mourning sites, calling leader Kim Jong Il.

On December 28 millions of Pyongyang citizens and servicepersons of the People’s Army lined up along the snow-covered 40-odd km routes in Pyongyang to bid their last farewell to Kim Jong Il.

That day heavy snow fell in Pyongyang without let-up from midnight till afternoon. According to data available from the Meteorological Bureau, the snowfall in Pyongyang that day was the largest in 78 years ever since 1933.

People vied with each other to take off their clothes and mufflers and cover the roads, saying they cannot let the hearse for Kim Jong Il pass snow-covered roads.

There were impressive scenes of the people encircling the hearse in a desperate bid to stop it, crying “General, you cannot go leaving us behind!”

There was a national memorial service for Kim Jong Il on December 29. It demonstrated once again the will of the Korean people to hold him in high esteem forever as the eternal leader of Songun Korea and advance along the road of Juche steadfastly.

The bitterest as his grief was, respected Kim Jong Un took measures to give top priority to people’s convenience.

It deeply touched the people. They said that leader Kim Jong Il is with them in the image of Kim Jong Un.

Reflecting the unanimous wishes of the Korean people and army, the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK awarded the title of the DPRK Hero to leader Kim Jong Il and the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the WPK, under the instruction of leader Kim Jong Il on October 8, 2011, appointed Kim Jong Un to Supreme Commandership of the Korean People’s Army.

The world once again witnessed what Songun Korea is like, a country where the people are rock-firm united around their leader sharing the same destiny.