Kim Jong Il body displayed in palace

PYONGYANG, North Korea ( AP) — The body of North Korea’s longtime ruler Kim Jong Il was laid out in a memorial palace today as weeping mourners filled public plazas and state media fed a budding personality cult around his third son, hailing him as “born of heaven.”

Indicating the leadership transition in the world’s only communist dynasty is on track, Kim Jong Un — Kim’s youngest known son and successor — visited the body with top military and Workers’ Party officials and held what state media called a “ solemn ceremony” in the capital, Pyongyang, as the country mourned.

The Korean people were in “deep sorrow at the loss of the benevolent father of our nation,” Ri Ho Il, a lecturer at the Korean Revolutionary History Museum, told The Associated Press in Pyongyang.

“He defended our people’s happiness, carrying on his forced march both night and day,” Ri said.

Still images aired on state TV showed that the glass coffin holding Kim’s body was surrounded by his namesake flowers — red “kimjongilia” blossoms. He was covered with a red blanket, his head placed on a white pillow.

The coffin was presented in a room of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, a mausoleum where the embalmed body of his father — national founder Kim Il Sung — has been on display in a glass sarcophagus since his death in 1994.

Kim Jong Un entered the room to view his father as solemn music played, state media said. He observed a moment of silence, and then circled the bier, followed by other officials.

Kim Jong Il died of a massive heart attack on Saturday caused by overwork and stress, according to the North’s media. He was 69 — though some experts question the official accounts of his birth date and location.

Egyptian troops charge protesters

CAIRO ( AP) — Egyptian troops and riot police raided Cairo’s Tahrir Square early today in their latest attempt to evict protesters who want the ruling military to immediately step down, according to a field hospital doctor.

It was the second pre-dawn raid in as many days on the city’s central square. It comes as Egypt’s ruling generals are coming under mounting criticism at home and abroad over the excessive use of force by troops against unarmed protesters, including women, since the latest spate of violence broke out on Friday. At least 14 protesters have since been killed.

A 15-year-old protester was in critical condition after suffering a gunshot wound in today’s attack, said Dr. Ahmed Saad, a volunteer at the field hospital in Tahrir Square.

The troops and police initially succeeded in chasing the protesters out of the square, but they returned a short time later using a different route. The security forces pulled out of the square following clashes in which each side pelted the other with rocks.

The military took power after an 18- day uprising forced longtime leader Hosni Mubarak to step down 10 months ago. They have since been accused by activists and rights groups of mismanaging the transition period, human rights abuses and failing to revive the ailing economy or restore security.