North Korea to punish non-mourners for leader’s death

PanARMENIAN.Net - The North Korean authorities are to sentence anyone who has not participated in mourning sessions for leader Kim Jong-il to terms in labor camps, RIA Novosti reported citing South Korea’s Daily NK website.

The decision to hand out sentences of at least six months to non-mourners came after the completion of so-called ‘criticism sessions’ of people’s courts, which were held across the country earlier this month, the website said.

Kim died in December aged 69 years after 17 years at the head of the isolated, nuclear-armed state.

The website also said that people who had participated but were judged not have shed genuine tears could be sent to re-education camps.

North Korea's state run news agency KCNA has accused the Daily NK website of running a "smear campaign" against it. The wesbite compiles reports from defectors and people living inside North Korea.

In other developments, KCNA has reported that the passing of Kim Jong-il has been marked by plunging temperatures, mourning bears and flocks of magpies.

"At around 17:30 on December 19, 2011, hundreds of magpies appeared from nowhere and hovered over a statue of President Kim Il Sung on Changdok School campus in Mangyongdae District, clattering as if they were telling him the sad news," KCNA reported.