SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un paid respect to his late father Kim Jong-il on the occasion of the former leader's birthday on Saturday, Pyongyang's state media reported.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), monitored in Seoul, said Kim Jong-un, along with his wife Ri Sol-ju, visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang, where Kim Jong-il lies in state.
The KCNA said the junior Kim first paid tribute to the statues of Kim Il-sung, his grandfather and founder of North Korea, and Kim Jong-il. After placing a floral basket before the statues, the young leader went into the hall of immortality.
"He, together with the participants, made bows to Kim Jong-il in the humblest reverence," the KCNA's English-language dispatch said.
The report said Kim and Ri were accompanied by other key government officials and military leaders, such as Choe Ryong-hae, the director of the General Political Bureau of the (North) Korean People's Army (KPA), and Jang Song-thaek, the vice chairman of the National Defense Commission and the powerful uncle and guardian of Kim Jong-un.
This was the first joint public appearance by Kim Jong-un and Ri since they attended a performance celebrating New Year's Day.
The KCNA added that participants vowed their allegiance to Kim Jong-un and said they'd follow his lead to complete the country's "songun," or military-first, revolution.
The North Korean media also noted that Pyongyang isn't afraid of any sanctions or pressure following its successful nuclear test on Tuesday, and that its military now boasts a powerful nuclear deterrence, in an apparent plea for international recognition of North Korea as a nuclear weapons state.
