The 66th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Thursday observed a minute's silence to mourn the death of Kim Jong Il, leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The UN General Assembly observe one-minute silence to mourn the death of Kim Jong Il, leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), before the Second Committee of the UN General Assembly begins a meeting at the UN Headquarters in New York on Thursday afternoon. [Xinhua]

Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, president of the 66th General Assembly session, asked the representatives of 193 UN member states attending a plenary session on economic and financial affairs to pay tribute to the late DPRK leader, who died on Dec. 17.

The move was at the request of the DPRK, said the president, and the one-minute silence was observed before the start of the plenary meeting of the General Assembly.

"Before proceeding to the items on our agenda and following with the exiting practice, it is my sad duty to pay tribute to the memory of the late Kim Jong-Il, secretary-general of the Workers' Party of Korea, chairman of the national defense commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army who passed away on Saturday, Dec.17, 2011, " the president said at the meeting on Thursday afternoon.

"I request the representative of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to convey condolences to the government and the people of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," he added.

Sin Son Ho, DPRK's permanent representative to the UN, was among the participants at the UNGA meeting, which started at around 3:19 p.m. EST (2019GMT) on Thursday.

Earlier on Thursday, the president told a press conference here that the General Assembly received a request from the DPRK for the observing of silence and made the decision "according to the procedure of the General Assembly, and based on precedent and protocol."

However, representatives of the United States, Japan, South Korea on Thursday boycotted the one-minute silence at the General Assembly, with Britain, France, Germany and other European countries joining them.

The DPRK leader passed away from "great mental and physical strain" at 08:30 a.m. Dec. 17 (2330 GMT Friday), on a train during a field guidance tour, the DPRK's official KCNA news agency reported on Monday.