The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Wednesday bid farewell to the country's late leader Kim Jong Il.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Wednesday bid farewell to the country's late leader Kim Jong Il.

A ceremony of bidding last farewell to Kim Jong Il was held at the plaza of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace at 1 p.m. local time (0400 GMT).

Flags were lowered to half-mast and somber funeral music was played.

TV footage showed troops stood in the snow on the plaza as a limousine carrying a huge portrait of the late leader moved slowly.

Kim Jong Un, Kim's third son, walked at the right front of the hearse, followed by his uncle, Jang Song Thaek. Ri Yong Ho, chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army, walked at the left front.

The motorcade then entered downtown Pyongyang, where hundreds of thousands of tearful people lined the 40-km route to see their leader off.

TV footage showed that heartbroken Pyongyang residents wailed as the hearse passed by. Stricken by excessive grief, some people fell to the ground.

The motorcade returned to the Kumsusan Memorial Palace for the next ritual of the funeral after circling Pyongyang.

DPRK people will observe three minutes' silence on Thursday, the KCNA news agency reported on Tuesday.

"All the DPRK people will stay still for three minutes and all locomotives and ships (those on voyage included) will blow whistles and those units with sirens will sound them all at once," said the KCNA.

Kim 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 KCNA news agency reported two days later.

An article of the WPK newspaper Rodong Sinmun Monday said Kim Jong-un started to deal with national affairs following his father's death and under his leadership, "all works of DPRK are unswervingly carried out".