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The funeral ceremony for the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has started in the capital, Pyongyang, according to the ITAR-TASS news agency, the only Russian media with offices in the reclusive communist country.
The first phase of the ceremony began at 10am local time (01:00 GMT) in the Kumsusan Memorial Palace on Wednesday, where Kim's body is lying in state in a glass coffin, the agency said.
A funeral procession with the coffin drove through the streets of Pyongyang as part of the proceedings, for which no programme was made public.
Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans gathered on Pyongyang's chilly streets to bid a final farewell to their leader.
The latest pictures emerging from the funeral have shown a military parade with thousands of military personnel, and a hearse carrying the coffin being escorted by his son, Kim Jong-un, to the national palace.
Another vehicle carrying a very large portrait of the late North Korean leader also paraded the streets.
According to Al Jazeera's Harry Fawcett in Seoul, the funeral procession was very similar to the one held in 1994 for Kim Jong-il's father.
SourceAJE