Kim Jong Il’s dead body is to be put on display permanently for a favoured few at Kumsusan Memorial Palace in North Korea’s capital.
His embalmed body will lie in state next to his father Kim Il Sung indefinitely, who has been there since 1994. It is meant to show Kim Jong Il’s role "as the eternal leader of the party" reported state news agency KCNA.
Lavish plans to build memorials to the late leader of North Korea include a statue, smiling portraits and “towers of immortality” according to the state news agency.
Kim Jong Il died of a heart attack on 17 December, and is succeeded by his son Kim Jong Un, who is believed to be in his twenties.
Both of the deceased Kim’s are hailed with an almost god-like status, with the birthday of Kim Il Sung, the “founding father” of the party, 15 April, named as the “Day of the Sun.”
Kim Jong Il is to receive the same exulted treatment posthumously, as his 16 February birthday is to be named “Day of the Shining Star.” It is believed to be a reference the rockets built under the late leader’s military policy.
Paik Hak-Soon, of Seoul's Sejong Institute think-tank, said that the memorials to Kim Jong Il's are also aimed to highlight the power the Kim Jong Un as the next generation's leader.
"It shows the absolute authority of the past leaders and is also aimed at boosting Jong-un's status as their direct descendant," he told AFP
Dramatic footage showing North Korean’s weeping with grief transfixed the world. "How can the sky not cry?" a weeping soldier standing in the snow told state TV. "The people... are all crying tears of blood."
State television also said the heavy snow fall ahead of the funeral was due to “heaven’s grief”
The late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was both brutal and supremely powerful, in a country that prioritised military growth over the people's welfare.