On the occasion of the New Year, senior North Korean officials visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the bodies of the founding leader, Kim Il Sung, and the former Chairman of the National Defense Commission, Kim Jong Il, are preserved. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did not appear to attend.
Rodong Sinmun reported on Thursday, “On January 1, in honor of the New Year, members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party, along with senior officials from the Party, government, and military institutions, visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, the supreme sanctuary of Juche.”
The newspaper described the atmosphere at the site as “the supreme sanctuary of Juche, where our party, state and people’s eternal leaders and peerless great men reside in their immortal forms, was enveloped in the most solemn atmosphere.”
The report added that representatives of the respective institutions placed floral baskets bearing the names of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party, the Standing Committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly, the Cabinet, and the People’s Army. Participants “offered their most reverent New Year’s greetings to the Great Leader and the Great General with the utmost sincerity.”
The article emphasized, “The participants reaffirmed their steadfast commitment to fully support Comrade Kim’s revolutionary ideology and leadership, to meet the significant responsibilities entrusted to them by the Party, revolution, and people in the historic march of comprehensive socialist development, and to boldly lead the era of prosperity and greatness of our powerful nation.”
Kim had visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in December to mark the 13th anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s death. Additionally, on the 30th anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s death last July, which coincided with a major milestone, he visited the palace and attended a commemorative concert. However, he did not participate in the tribute schedule for the regime’s founding day on September 9 last year.