N. Korea Reportedly Puts Kim Jong-Il's Yacht in Mausoleum

W460

North Korea has put Kim Jong-Il's yacht in the family mausoleum and had to build a railway to get it there, a report said Friday as Pyongyang prepares to mark one year since the late leader's death.

The reclusive state has been putting together a collection of some of Kim's possessions at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang, which houses the preserved body of his father, Kim Il-Sung, Yonhap news agency said.

Quoting unidentified South Korean officials, Yonhap added that the embalming of Kim Jong-Il's body, which is eventually expected to be laid next to that of his father in the imposing structure, is almost complete.

To get to the palace, the yacht was sailed from the eastern port of Wonsan 1,500 nautical miles around the Korean peninsula to the western port of Nampo, from where it was towed 44 kilometers (27 miles) inland to Pyongyang.

Power lines had to be taken down, a temporary rail track was laid and part of the wall of the mausoleum knocked down to get the boat inside, the report said.

North Korea has reportedly set December 1-20 as a mourning period for Kim Jong-Il, who died of a heart attack on December 17. He was succeeded by his son Kim Jong-Un in a third-generation power transition.

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