North Korea May Fete 'Touching Drama' for Kim Jong Il Funeral - San Francisco Chronicle

Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea today lays to rest Kim Jong Il, who armed his nation with nuclear weapons while more than 1 million of his people starved to death, in a ceremony observers may scrutinize for signs of the regime's new power hierarchy under son Kim Jong Un.

North Korean state media have refrained from providing details on the procession, to which foreign delegations weren't invited. Analysts and South Korea media said it will mimic that of that nation's founder, Kim Il Sung, in 1994. The elder's ceremony began at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace at 10 a.m., went for one hour, and involved the new leader making a tour of the coffin aside the country's top officials, Yonhap News said.

"Watching how people are aligned around Kim Jong Un tomorrow, we can have a clue on the power dynamic in the North Korean leadership," said Paik Hak Soon, a director of inter- Korean relations at the Seongnam, South Korea-based Sejong Institute research group.

The ceremony will likely mobilize hundreds of thousands of weeping participants in a display of national mourning that's designed to portray broad public support for the regime, according to analysts. State media have portrayed the image of a Kim Jong Un solidifying his hold on the succession, referring to him as "supreme leader of the revolutionary armed forces" and "great successor" to his late father and grandfather.

"North Korea will try to get as much as possible out of the funeral," said Lee Jung Hoon, a political science professor at Yonsei University in Seoul. "They know everyone in the world is watching them and they will make it a really touching drama."

Private Trip

No government officials from Seoul will pay condolences, according to the Unification Ministry, which oversees policy toward North Korea. Lee Hee Ho, the 89-year-old widow of former South Korean President Kim Dae Jung, and Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong Eun led a private group of 18 South Koreans on a two-day visit, where state media showed them being greeted by Kim Jong Un on Dec. 26.

Concern the political outlook in the North could worsen contributed to a slump in consumer confidence in South Korea, which fell to a three-month low this month, a survey released yesterday showed. The Kospi slid 3.4 percent on Dec. 19 when the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was announced, then rallied 4 percent the next two trading days.

Today's funeral may begin with Kim Jong Un and the chairman of National Funeral Committee viewing Kim Jong Il's coffin along with other senior officials, Yonhap News reported in a Dec. 25 preview of the event. If the 1994 protocol is followed, Kim Jong Un, his sister Kim Kyong Hui and the head of the Supreme People's Assembly, Kim Yong Nam, will stand in the front row.

Front Row

Premier Choe Yong Rim, other high-ranking figures and Jang Song Thaek, Kim Jong Un's uncle and the brother-in-law of late Kim Jong Il, will also likely be present, Yonhap said.

Then, the hearse will proceed to Kim Il Sung Plaza along a route that passes through Pyongyang's main avenues, where throngs of wailing citizens will pay respects, Yonhap said. Kim Jong Il's body will then return to the Kumsusan Palace, where it will remain, according to the news agency.

The funeral will be followed by a national memorial service on Dec. 29, the official Korean Central News Agency has said. That will involve a nationwide three minutes of silence, and gun volleys will be fired in Pyongyang and in provincial seats.

In the end, the funeral propaganda is unlikely to reveal how strong of a hold Kim Jong Un has on North Korea, said Brian Myers, a professor of international studies at Dongseo University in Busan, South Korea.

"Whether or not he's really in control of the military or whether the military is really pulling the strings is not something we are going to be finding out," he said. "To convey to the North Korean public that the country is being de facto run by a group of old generals would not be in their interest."

--With assistance from Eunkyung Seo in Seoul. Editors: Patrick Harrington, Nicholas Wadhams

To contact the reporters on this story: Patrick Harrington in Tokyo at pharrington8@bloomberg.net; Seonjin Cha in Seoul at scha2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Hirschberg at phirschberg@bloomberg.net