Kim visits national mausoleum to pay respects to country\'s founding leader

Pyongyang: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Monday paid a visit to the country's national mausoleum, the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, on the occasion of the 25th death anniversary of his grandfather and the regime's founding leader Kim Il-sung, according to state media.

Kim Jong-un was accompanied by senior government and party officials and paid their respects to the deceased leader.

The mausoleum is the home to the resting place of Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il, whose embalmed bodies are lying in state, Yonhap News Agency reported.

According to North Korea's state television, Kim was seen paying a visit to the mausoleum and people observed a moment of silence with a sound of a siren across the country. The country's flag was also seen flying at half-mast.

Kim Il-sung, who founded North Korea in 1948, passed away due to a heart attack in 1994. His son Kim Jong-il too breathed his last owing to the same ailment in 2011, following which current leader Kim Jong-un took office.

Notably, it was the first time in two years that North Korea's state media aired on Kim Jong-un's visit to the Kumsusan Palace to mark the occasion of the country's founding leader's death anniversary.

Until 2017, Kim Jong-un paid his at obeisance at the mausoleum since he assumed power. However, state media did not report about his visit last year.

The North Korean leader later attended a national memorial service at an indoor stadium in Pyongyang. It was the first time that such an event was held after five years.

While several officials delivered speeches on the occasion, Kim Jong-un did not speak at the event.

Meanwhile, North Korean media called upon its people to adopt "self-reliance" while building a powerful economy on the occasion.

"Today's grand advance in economic development is (the continuation of) a sacred and rewarding struggle of our great leaders to realise their aspirations for a patriotic and powerful country," the Rodong Sinmun, the country's propaganda newspaper, said in an editorial.

"Raising high the slogan for self-reliance and self-sufficiency and achieving a miraculous myth once again, (we) should demonstrate to the world the reviving status of the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il," it added while using North Korea's official name.