Kim Jong-il ruled the impoverished but nuclear-armed state for 17 years after
his own father and founding President Kim Il-sung died in 1994.
Ri, in a speech at the event, called Kim’s birth “a global milestone”
while senior ruling party official Ri Yong-Chol urged young people to “firmly
unite” behind Jong-un in line with Kim’s last wishes.
The event ended with fireworks and cheers by participants, it said.
State media has earlier said groups of workers across the nation began trips
to the mountain to pay respects to the Kim family, whose “Paekdu
bloodline” is trumpeted in official propaganda.
The mountain, the highest on the peninsula, is sacred to both Koreas as the
place where, according to legend, their ancestors originated.
Official accounts say Kim was born there. But independent experts say his
birthplace was actually a guerrilla camp in Russia, from where his father
was fighting Japanese forces who had colonised the Korean peninsula.
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