Kim Jong-un visits mausoleum on father's death anniversary

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attends a ceremony at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang on Dec. 17, 2024, in this photo released by the North's Korea Central News Agency the following day.

SEOUL, December 18 (AJP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited a mausoleum for his late father to mark the 13th anniversary of his death, according to state media.

"A floral basket..... was laid before the statues" of Kim Jong-il and his father and regime founder Kim Il-sung at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang, the country's state-run Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Wednesday.

The incumbent leader was accompanied by top party officials including his sister Yo-jong.

KCNA said all the visitors paid their respects to the former leader who "dedicated his whole life to the accomplishment of the revolutionary cause of Juche" and pledged to uphold the "ideology and guidance of Kim Jong-un with their pure loyalty."

Kim Jong-il died of heart failure in December 2011 at the age of 69. Kim junior has visited the mausoleum almost every year, where his father and grandfather's embalmed bodies lie in state.