By Alex Jensen

SEOUL 

North Koreans paid their respect to the communist Kim dynasty Wednesday as tens of thousands gathered to commemorate the death of ‘Dear Leader’ Kim Jong-il.

This year’s continuous TV coverage, which ran all day and into the evening, surprised even seasoned North Korea watchers in the South.

"It's rather unusual," a Seoul government spokesperson told reporters, referring to Pyongyang's uninterrupted coverage.

Central TV showed tens of thousands of citizens enduring temperatures as low as -10C to pay their respects to a 22-meter statue of their former leader, the father of current leader Kim Jong-un.

The statue stands on the capital's iconic Mansu Hill alongside a equally grand likeness of the country's founder, 'Great Leader' Kim Il-sung.

In the commentary accompanying the footage, viewers were told that, despite the freezing weather, "our heart for him [Kim Jong-il] grows warmer and our loyalty becomes stronger."

But there was also a wider emphasis on North Korea's 'Great Successor' Kim Jong-un – the third of his family to lead the reclusive state, which has glorified the Kim family.

The third anniversary of Kim Jong-il’s death signifies the end of the traditional Confucian mourning period.

Some analysts had suggested that the younger Kim’s first years in office would be a crucial period of consolidation. If so, he appears to have weathered any initial threats as the Rodong Sinmun newspaper declared the era of the "great" leader fully underway.

Since taking power after the death of his father, Kim Jong-un has overseen the North's first successful satellite launch, at least one nuclear test and the firing of numerous missiles while bringing the peninsula close to resuming the 1950-53 war last year.

He has also led a purge, whose victims have included his own uncle.

Still only 31 years old, Kim's growing notoriety is set to be further cemented this month when the United Nations’ General Assembly votes on a resolution to deal with widespread human rights abuses in North Korea. He is also the subject of an upcoming Hollywood movie, which has so annoyed the North that the country is the obvious suspect in a cyber attack on Sony, the company behind the film.

If hopes of meaningful dialogue and denuclearization have been dashed, Kim's western education has rather led him to embracing ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman and Disney-inspired performances.

More substantially, Pyongyang's decision not to invite a Chinese delegation to Wednesday's national ceremony seemed to further indicate a rift between Kim and Beijing and added weight was offered by a Japanese report Wednesday. According to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, a summit between Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin next year is likely.

The paper reported that Kim has been invited to a ceremony in Russia to mark the end of World War II in May - Kim's first foreign trip since succeeding his father, an indication of his complete assumption of power and confidence in his position.

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