North Korea marks 6th anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s death

North Korean posthumous portrait of Kim Jong-il. (Photo By Pyongyang 100th Year Kim Il Sung Birthday Celebrations 03.jpg: Photographed by Joseph Ferris III.Derivative work: Great Brightstar (talk) – File:Pyongyang 100th Year Kim Il Sung Birthday Celebrations 03.jpg, CC BY 2.0)

PYONGYANG, Korea, Democratic People’s Republic Of— Crowds of flower-bearing North Koreans on Sunday streamed passed statues and portraits of their leaders to pay respects on the sixth anniversary of the death of Kim Jong Un’s father, Kim Jong Il.

With sombre, recorded music playing in the sub-zero air, thousands upon thousands of people marched up Pyongyang’s Mansu Hill to bow and place flowers at the feet of two giant bronze statues of Kim Jong Il and national founder Kim Il Sung, who is North Korea’s “eternal president” and Kim Jong Un’s grandfather.

Kim Jong Il died on Dec. 17, 2011.

Although the sense of national mourning is less intense than in previous years, North Koreans are expected to avoid drinking, entertainment and inappropriate displays of enjoyment on the day before and the day of the anniversary.

At midnight, senior ruling party officials visited a mausoleum on the outskirts of the city where the elder Kims lie in state, according to state-run media reports.