DPRK bids farewell to Kim Jong Il

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Wednesday bid farewell to the country's late leader Kim Jong Il.

In this photo released by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s official KCNA news agency, the body of DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Il lies in the bier at the Kumsusan Memorial in Pyongyang, DPRK. [Xinhua/KCNA]

Analysts expected that Kim's funeral will be similar to the 1994 funeral of his father Kim Il Sung.

"We're going to see a highly public presentation of grief. People will be in tears," AFP quoted Andrei Lankov of Seoul's Kookmin University as saying.

DPRK people will observe three minutes' silence on Thursday, the KCNA news agency reported on Tuesday.

"All the DPRK people will stay still for three minutes and all locomotives and ships (those on voyage included) will blow whistles and those units with sirens will sound them all at once," said the KCNA.

Kim Jong-un visited the bier of his father and expressed condolences for the fifth time on Tuesday, KCNA reported.

Kim passed away from "great mental and physical strain" at 08:30 a.m. Dec. 17 (2330 GMT Friday), on a train during a field guidance tour, the KCNA news agency reported two days later.

An article of the WPK newspaper Rodong Sinmun Monday said Kim Jong-un started to deal with national affairs following his father's death and under his leadership, "all works of DPRK are unswervingly carried out".