SEOUL, Dec. 29 (Yonhap) -- North Korean officials pledged allegiance to their new leader Kim Jong-un on Thursday as they formally announced the opening of his era in a solemn memorial service for Kim's late father Kim Jong-il.
Kim Yong-nam, North Korea's octogenarian ceremonial head of state, lauded Kim Jong-un, who is in his late 20s, as "the supreme leader of our party and army and people," claiming the successor fully personified the ideas, leadership, personality, virtues, grit and courage of his late father.
