Kim Jong-un, North Korea's Chairperson of the State Affairs Commission, paid his respects at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on the 8th, the 32nd anniversary of Chairperson Kim Il Sung's death, where the bodies of former leaders are enshrined.
Korean Central News Agency reported that the Chairperson visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun at 12 a.m. that day. Unlike the usual practice of North Korean media delivering the Chairperson's public activities the following day, news of this visit was released the same day.
Top-ranking officials representing the party, the Cabinet, and the military, including members of the Labor Party Politburo Standing Committee, accompanied the visit in large numbers. The delegation numbered in the hundreds.
According to photos released by the agency, in the front row were the Chairperson along with Jo Yong-won, Jeong Kyung-taek, Kim Sung-nam, Jo Chun-ryong, Ju Chang-il, Kim Jung-kwan, Kim Seung-du, Ri Hi-yong, and An Kum-chol, party secretaries, and Pak Thae-song, the Cabinet premier.
Party Office Director Kim Yo-jong, Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, and Defense Minister No Kwang-chol stood in the row directly behind. Kim Jae-ryong, the former party secretary who was dismissed en masse from his post on the 8th of last month, was also spotted in the second row. The Chairperson's daughter Ju Ae was not visible in the photos released that day.
The agency said the Chairperson paid respects to the statues of Chairperson Kim Il Sung and National Defense Commission Chairperson Kim Jong Il at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun and wished for the eternal life of the two former leaders.
This year's anniversary of Chairperson Kim Il Sung's death does not correspond to a "round anniversary," which North Korea places importance on. As it is not a year that falls on a five- or 10-year cycle, it appears unlikely that a separate large-scale commemorative event attended by the Chairperson will be held.
In 2024, the 30th anniversary of Chairperson Kim Il Sung's death, the Chairperson paid respects at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun and also attended the central memorial rally held at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang.
This year, North Korea is carrying out memorial schedules in a relatively calm atmosphere. Group memorial events such as "virtue presentation meetings" and "virtue storytelling meetings" are being held mainly by youth and students; the working class and the General Federation of Trade Unions; farmers and members of the agricultural workers' union; and members of the women's union.