N. Korea seals itself off

North Korea’s anointed heir Kim Jong Un led a solemn procession of mourners Tuesday to the glass coffin of his father and longtime ruler — a strong indication that a smooth leadership transition was under way in the country known for secrecy and unpredictability.

Weeping members of North Korea’s elite filed past the body of Kim Jong Il, which was draped in red cloth and surrounded by stony-faced honor guards and dozens of red and white flowers.

State media fed a budding personality cult around his youngest known son, hailing him as a “lighthouse of hope” as the country was awash in a “sea of tears and grief.”

In a dreamlike scene captured by Associated Press Television News, Kim’s coffin appeared to float on a raft of “kimjongilia” — the flowers named after him — with his head and shoulders bathed in a spotlight as solemn mustic played. Various medals and honors were displayed at his feet.

The bier was located in a hall of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, a mausoleum where the embalmed body of Kim Jong Il’s father and North Korean founder Kim Il Sung has been on view in a glass sarcophagus since his death in 1994.

Kim Jong Il’s 27-year-old son and heir, Kim Jong Un, wore a black Mao-style suit, his hair cropped closely on the sides but longer on top, as he walked with much older officials in suits and military uniforms.

Stepping away from the group, Kim Jong Un bowed deeply, his expression serious, before circling the bier with other officials.

North Korea was in seclusion on Tuesday, with the country in an 11-day period of official mourning, flags were at half-staff at all military units, factories, businesses, farms and public buildings.

The streets of Pyongyang were quiet, but throngs gathered at landmarks honoring Kim.

The hermit kingdom closed its border with China for trade and visitors, The Wall Street Journal reported.

State workers were called back from the China side to help focus on Kim’s Dec. 28 funeral.


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While Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged North Korea to follow a “path of peace,” diplomats and commentators were struggling to understand what would happen as it transitions from Kim Jong Il’s 17-year iron rule to that of his untested son Kim Jong Un, in his late 20s.

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North Korean media lauded Kim Jong-il, 69 when he died, as the “Great Father of the People” and reported that he had made several public appearances in the past week.

Pyongyang has said foreign officials will not be invited to the funeral.

Jong-un, the youngest son and successor to the ruling dynasty started by his grandfather, was described as the “eternally immovable mental mainstay of the Korean people” by KCNA, the state news agency.

Few cross border

In a sign the hermit state was sealing itself off from the outside world even more after the “Dear Leader’s” death, few people crossed the Dandong border with China. China is the North’s only major ally and one of the few states with which it actively trades.

“We can’t go in now, because of the death of Kim Jong-il,” Yu Lu, a Chinese trader in Dandong who does business with the North, told Reuters. “It’s all closed off, and basically all the North Koreans are heading back. It’s very tightly closed today.”




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Chinese business people in Dandong said that while it was still possible to travel across on Tuesday, many canceled trips, fearing the border could be closed.

“We’re worried that it could be shut down at any time, because of the mourning activities, and nobody wants to be stuck in North Korea with the border closed,” said Yu Lu.

The elder Kim was reported to have died on Saturday of a heart attack, prompting South Korea – with whom the North remains technically at war after a 1953 armistice ended a conflict – to put its forces on full alert.

South Korean media reported that the North test-fired at least one short-range missile on Monday, sparking a fresh round of tension, although government officials in Seoul said they did not necessarily believe the launches were linked to Kim’s death.

Seoul was calm on Tuesday, a sunny winter day, and there appeared to be no sense of any crisis.

One Chinese businessman with close links to North Korea, who could not be identified due to the sensitive nature of his relationship with the Pyongyang elite, said that the Wongjong border crossing with Russia was open, but that no one was using it to enter the country.

“(As) many foreigners are leaving as possible,” he said.

In Beijing, Chinese President Hu Jintao offered his condolences Tuesday as the government hinted at an early invitation for a visit by his son and successor.

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