video transcript

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) STORY: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Monday paid his respects to the reclusive country's former leaders to mark the 21st anniversary of Kim Jong-il becoming the supreme commander of the Korean People's Army. North Korea's state-run television KRT on Tuesday showed video footage of Kim along with other leaders of the party, state and army visiting the Kumsusan Place of the Sun, where the embalmed bodies of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung and former leader Kim Jong-il lie in state at the same mausoleum. A floral basket in the name of Kim Jong-un was laid before the statues of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. The North's official news agency KCNA reported among the visitors were those scientists, technicians, workers and officials who made contributions to the successful launch of Satellite Kwangmyongsong3-2. Kim Jong-il, who marked the first anniversary of his death last week, was the unchallenged head of the reclusive state whose economy fell deeper into poverty during his years in power as he vexed the world by developing a nuclear arms program and an arsenal of missiles aimed to hit neighbors Japan and South Korea.