"How can the sky not cry?" a weeping soldier standing in the snow said to state TV. Some struggled to get past security personnel holding back the crowd. Mourners in parkas lined the streets of Pyongyang on Wednesday, waving, stamping and crying as the convoy bearing his coffin passed. Kim Jong Il - who led with absolute power after his father Kim Il Sung's death in 1994, through a famine that killed hundreds of thousands and the pursuit of nuclear and missile programs - died of a heart attack Dec. He also faces the huge challenges of running a country that struggles to feed its people even as it pursues a nuclear weapons program that has earned it international sanctions and condemnation. Whereas his father was groomed for power for 20 years before taking over, the younger Kim has had only about two years. Kim then saluted again as goose-stepping soldiers carrying flags and rifles marched by.Īlthough analysts say Kim Jong Un is on the path toward cementing his power and all moves in North Korea so far point in that direction - from titles giving him power over the ruling party and military and his leading position in the funeral procession - his age and inexperience leave questions about his long-term prospects. Kim Jong Un, the country's next leader, was head mourner Wednesday on a bitter, snowy day in Pyongyang, walking with one hand on the black hearse that carried his father's coffin on its roof, his other hand raised in salute, his head bowed against the wind.Īt the end of the 2 1/2-hour procession, rifles fired 21 times as Kim Jong Un stood flanked by the top party and military officials who are expected to be his inner circle of advisers. PYONGYANG, North Korea - North Korea prepared for another day of mourning Thursday for late leader Kim Jong Il after an emotionally charged funeral that left millions of people wailing in grief in a ceremony that cemented his youngest son as his successor.