N Korea hails new supreme leader

This handout picture taken by North Korea's official korean Central News Agency yesterday shows people at the memorial service for the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il at the Kim Il-Sung square in Pyongyang. North Korea staged a massive memorial service for Kim Jong-Il to end 13 days of official mourning, and formally declared his untested young son Jong-Un, inset, as the new supreme leader.Photo: AFP

North Korea yesterday staged a massive memorial service for Kim Jong-Il to end almost two weeks of official mourning, and formally declared his untested young son Jong-Un as the new supreme leader.
Addressing tens of thousands of troops and civilians packing a wintry Pyongyang square, ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-Nam praised the late leader for contributing to "global peace and stability of the 21st century".
Kim Jong-Un, "the supreme leader of our party and army and people", had inherited his late father's spirit, leadership, personality, morality and fortitude, he added.
A sombre Jong-Un, clad in a black overcoat, presided from a balcony over the ceremony along with other members of the regime.