SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea says late leader Kim Jong Il's body will be permanently laid in state in a memorial palace in the capital.
Kim's body will be displayed at Pyongyang's Kumsusan Memorial Palace, where the embalmed body of his father — North Korea founder Kim Il Sung — has been lying since 1995. He died in 1994.
North Korea has sought to show Kim Jong Il's son and successor, Kim Jong Un, as firmly in control since his father died of a heart attack on Dec. 17.
The official Korean Central News Agency said Thursday that North Korea will also erect a Kim Jong Il statue, set up portraits of Kim and build "towers to his immortality" across the country.
(This version CORRECTS that Kim Il Sung's body has been lying in Pyongyang memorial palace since 1995, a year after his death. Deletes reference to Kim Jong Il's birthday.)
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