(LEAD) N. Korea's Kim pays respects at family mausoleum for party founding anniversary

▲ North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (L) visits the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun to pay respects to the former leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il on Oct. 12, 2025, in this photo from the Korean Central News Agency the following day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

(LEAD) NK leader-politics

(LEAD) N. Korea's Kim pays respects at family mausoleum for party founding anniversary

(ATTN: UPDATES with more info, photo in last para)

By Park Boram

SEOUL, Oct. 13 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun family mausoleum to pay respects to former leaders on the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), state media said Monday.

Kim, "who organized and guided the grand celebrations of the 80th founding anniversary of the WPK in a responsible manner, respectfully presented the great glory won by the party and state to the great leaders," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The mausoleum enshrines the embalmed bodies of the North's founder Kim Il-sung, grandfather of Kim, and Kim Jong-il, a former North Korean leader and Kim's father.

The visit came as North Korea held celebratory events last week, including a military parade, to mark the Oct. 10 party anniversary, which were attended by foreign dignitaries, including Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Vietnamese leader To Lam.

The KCNA quoted Kim as saying, "The revolutionary exploits of the great leaders who laid a solid cornerstone for the durable existence and victorious development of our party and state will be immortal along with the steady prosperity of socialist Korea."

The higher North Korea's socialist construction progresses, the more the country will uphold the former leaders' achievements, Kim said, adding, "There will be no veering and deviation in this road."

Pledging to remain faithful to the cause of the former leaders, Kim also vowed to devote himself "to the sacred struggle for realizing the prosperity of the DPRK and the ideal of the people," the KCNA said.

DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the country's official name.

Kim visited the family mausoleum in 2015 and 2020 for the party's 70th and 75th founding anniversaries, respectively.

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