North Korea backs son after Kim Jong-Il death

North Korean television showed the body of late leader Kim Jong-Il lying in state in a glass coffin Tuesday as his son and successor Kim Jong-Un and other senior officials paid their respects. The still photos showed a sombre dark-clad Jong-Un and others, some in military uniform, circling a flower-bedecked bier supporting the casket. The body of Kim senior was dressed in his trademark khaki tunic, with most of the corpse covered by a red sheet, at Pyongyang's Kumsusan Memorial Palace. North Korea has hailed Jong-Un as a "great successor" at the helm of the isolated country after the death of the leader who built an atomic arsenal and presided over a devastating famine. On state television Monday, a tearful announcer delivered the news of Kim's demise at 69 from a heart attack, and the station aired footage of hysterical North Koreans, young and old alike, pounding the ground in displays of abject grief. Pyongyang urged military personnel and citizens to rally behind Kim's youngest son Jong-Un, who is in his late 20s. Last year, he was made a four-star general and given top ruling party posts despite having had no public profile. It is the nuclear-armed pariah nation's second dynastic succession, and analysts said there would probably be little turbulence -- at least for now -- in the North, whose unpredictable behaviour has long destabilised the region. "All party members, military men and the public should faithfully follow the leadership of comrade Kim Jong-Un and protect and further strengthen the unified front of the party, military and the public," said the black-clad television announcer. The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted officials and citizens pledging their allegiance to the Swiss-educated new leader. It described him as "a prominent thinker-theoretician and peerlessly illustrious commander" thanks to whom "the DPRK is more strikingly displaying its dignity and might as an invincible military power." A KCNA report in the early hours of Tuesday described grief-stricken North Koreans holding late-night vigils at various statues and monuments to Kim. South Korea put its military on emergency alert after the death was announced but urged its people to stay calm, and swiftly closed ranks with its close ally the United States. Seoul summoned a meeting of the National Security Council and President Lee Myung-Bak called an emergency cabinet meeting. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said it had increased monitoring along the border with US forces in the country but had detected no unusual activity. North and South Korea have remained technically at war since their three-year conflict ended only in an armistice in 1953. The United States stations 28,500 troops in the South. Lee and US President Barack Obama were quick to talk by telephone after Kim's death was announced at noon (0300 GMT), officials said. A White House statement said Obama had reaffirmed Washington's commitment to Seoul and to stability on the Korean peninsula. China and Russia, both influential players in Pyongyang, sent their condolences and observers said Beijing would beef up its all-important patronage to prevent collapse in the communist North. There was wariness about North Korea's future under Kim Jong-Un, but Britain, France and Germany voiced hope for a new dawn after a tumultuous year that has seen regimes topple across the Middle East. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States wanted better relations with the North Korean people, while UN chief Ban Ki-moon vowed to step up help for the shattered country. "We both share a common interest in a peaceful and stable transition in North Korea as well as ensuring regional peace and stability," Clinton said after talks with Japan's Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba. White House spokesman Jay Carney later said the United States hoped Pyongyang would live up to its obligations to end its nuclear programme. Japan, Korea's former colonial ruler, offered its condolences and Gemba said it was important to ensure Kim's death did not "negatively affect the peace and stability on the Korean peninsula." The man known as the "Dear Leader," according to KCNA, "passed away from a great mental and physical strain" at 8:30 am on Saturday (2330 GMT Friday) while travelling by train for a field trip. It said Kim died of a "severe myocardial infarction along with a heart attack." He had suffered a stroke in August 2008 that triggered an acceleration in the succession plans. Kim's funeral will be held on December 28 in Pyongyang but no foreign delegations will be invited, KCNA said. National mourning was declared until December 29. North Korea's propaganda machine has rolled into action to build up the same personality cult for Jong-Un that surrounded his father and late grandfather Kim Il-Sung, the founder and "eternal leader" of North Korea who died in 1994. "The North's top guys have already sorted out everything and the regime seems to be stable under the new leadership," said Paik Hak-Soon of Seoul's Sejong Institute. "I don't expect any major turbulence or power struggle within the regime in the foreseeable future. The Kim Jong-Un era has already started." Kim Jong-Il's only sister Kim Kyong-Hui and her husband Jang Song-Thaek, the country's unofficial number two leader, are expected to act as the younger Kim's mentors and throw their weight behind the new leadership. Analysts stressed that North Korea was entering an uncertain period, although its senior figures were likely to stick closely together for now. "The North Korean elite has a vested interest in maintaining the system and will assess Jong-Un's ability to protect its interests," said Bruce Klingner, a Northeast Asia expert at The Heritage Foundation in Washington. KCNA, quoting a statement from the national funeral committee headed by Jong-Un, said Kim Jong-Il's body would lie in state in Kumsusan palace where his own father's embalmed body is on display. Kim took over after his father and founding president Kim Il-Sung died in 1994, coming to power with a reputation as a playboy who revelled in the high life. In the 1990s, he presided over a famine that killed hundreds of thousands of his people. Severe food shortages continue and a third of children are stunted by malnutrition, according to UN estimates. Kim still found the resources for a nuclear weapons programme that culminated in tests in October 2006 and May 2009. The country is believed to have a plutonium stockpile big enough for six to eight weapons. Pyongyang test-fired two short-range missiles off its east coast on Monday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said, though quoting an unnamed government official as saying it was unrelated to the announcement of Kim's death.