ANKARA

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to have skipped a visit to the mausoleum on the birth anniversary of his grandfather for the third year in a row, according to the South Korean media on Wednesday.

Premier Park Thae-song, Choe Ryong-hae, chairman of the North's parliamentary standing committee; and other high-ranking cadres visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on Tuesday, when the country marked the founder Kim Il-sung's 113th birth anniversary, the Yonhap news agency reported.

The Kumsusan Palace is a mausoleum in Pyongyang that houses the preserved bodies of Kim ll-sung and his son, late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who is also the father of the current leader Kim.

Kim Jong-un regularly made annual visits to the mausoleum since 2012, however, he suspended the tradition in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021 and 2022, he also visited the mausoleum on his grandfather's birthday.

State-run Korean Central News Agency in its report said officials and ministers who visited the mausoleum on Tuesday also placed a flower basket bearing the name of Kim Jong-un at the statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid