It's Been 4 Years Since Kim Jong Un Popped Up Here

North Korean leader shows up at tomb of late dad Kim Jong Il to pay tribute on the latter's birthday
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 17, 2025 8:35 AM CST
It's Been 4 Years Since Kim Jong Un Popped Up Here
In this photo provided Feb. 10 by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech in Pyongyang on Feb. 8. Independent journalists weren't given access to cover the event depicted in this image. The content of this image is as provided and can't be independently verified.   (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

Sunday was the Day of the Shining Star in North Korea, a holiday marking the birthday of Kim Jong Il, and his youngest son used the occasion this year to pay a rare visit to his late father's tomb. Kim Jong Un stopped by the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang, the mausoleum where both his father and grandfather, Kim Il Sung, are interred—the first time the North's leader has been to the site in four years, reports Reuters.

ABS-CBN has video of Kim at the palace, arriving with his sister, Kim Yo Jong, and a group of aides. Kim paid homage "in the humblest reverence" and "expressed his solemn will to devote himself to the sacred struggle for the eternal prosperity of the country, the security of the people, and the promotion of their well-being," per North Korean state news agency KCNA. Voice of America notes that Kim's last visit to the tomb site was in 2021, when he showed up to pay tribute on the birthday of his grandfather, who founded North Korea. (More Kim Jong Un stories.)

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