Embalmed body of Kim Jong Il to go on permanent display

The body will be preserved by North Korean embalmers, rather than the Russian experts used previously, according to reports.

THE BODY OF former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il will lie in state permanently in Pyongyang, the country’s new leadership has announced.

Kim Jong Il, who State news agencies called the country’s “eternal leader”, will be laid out next to his father Kim Il Sung at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, the Telegraph reports.

The 69-year-old died of a heart attack in December, sparking mass public displays of weeping in the isolated Communist country.

According to the Asia Times, Kim Jong Il’s body is likely to be preserved by North Korean embalmers rather than the Russian experts who were brought in for his father.

The Korean Central News Agency announced this week that a Complete Collection of Kim Jong Il’s Works will be published to commemorate his leadership.

“Kim Jong Il, the peerlessly great man, is an outstanding thinker-theoretician, prominent statesman and rare illustrious commander of Songun produced by humankind,” the news agency said.

Songun is the country’s military policy.

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