数以万计痛哭流涕的朝鲜人星期三参加长期领导人金正日的葬礼。一辆黑色的灵车传过平壤的街道，把灵柩送到葬礼地点。
葬礼于星期 三清早开始时，阴霾的天空中大雪迷漫。一辆载着金正日巨幅画像的黑色轿车引导送葬队伍穿过白雪覆盖的平壤街道，紧随其后的是载着金正日灵柩的另一辆轿车， 灵柩下面布满白色的花朵。哭泣的送葬者站在街道两旁，许多人嚎哭着，挥舞臂膀，企图冲到马路当中。但被警卫人员阻拦。
朝鲜国家电视台播放的画面显示，金正日的柩车驶离巨大的锦绣山纪念宫广场时，他的继任者金正恩走在柩车旁边。他身穿黑色大衣，在雪中微微垂首，并举起右臂行礼。
站在灵车右方的是：朝鲜劳动党中央军事委员会副委员长金正恩、朝鲜劳动党国防委员会副委员长张成泽、朝鲜劳动党书记金基南、崔泰福，站在灵车左方的则是朝鲜劳动党中央军事委员会副委员长李英浩、人民武力部部长金英春、人民军总政治第一副局长金正觉。
分析人士说，这些军政要员在葬礼中距离金正恩这么近，可能暗示金正恩新的领导班子的组成。葬礼星期四将继续进行。
自从金正日12月17日死于心脏病以来，朝鲜国家电视台一直在不断重复播放朝鲜全国民众异常悲痛的情形。
各国政府目前都在密切注视平壤的活动，主要担心金正恩在朝鲜的崛起，而朝鲜是一个拥有核项目和庞大军队而且对邻国一贯怀有极大敌意的国家。
朝鲜官方媒体迅速宣布金正恩是“伟大的接班人”、最高军事统帅和执政的劳动党的领袖。
Tens of thousands of weeping North Koreans bade a final farewell to longtime leader Kim Jong Il Wednesday as a black hearse carried his coffin through the capital Pyongyang.
Snow filled the gray skies as the funeral procession began early Wednesday. A black limousine with a huge portrait of the late leader led the procession through Pyongyang's snow-covered streets, followed by another limousine with Mr. Kim's flag-draped coffin resting atop on a bed of white flowers.
Bitterly weeping mourners lined the streets, many wailing and flailing their arms in grief as soldiers struggled to keep them from spilling onto the road.
Images broadcast on North Korea's state television showed Mr. Kim's son and successor, Kim Jong Un, dressed in a dark overcoat, hand raised in salute, walking alongside his father's hearse as it returned to the huge square of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace.
Walking behind him was his influential uncle Jang Song Thaek, senior party officials Kim Ki Nam and Choe Thae Bok, military chief Ri Yong Ho, armed forces minister Kim Yong Chun and senior military officer Kim Jong Gak.
Analysts say the proximity of the political and military officials to the young leader could provide clues to the make-up of his inner circle.
The funeral ceremony will continue Thursday.
Foreign governments are watching events in Pyongyang closely because of concerns about the young Mr. Kim's rise in a country with a nuclear program, a large army and a history of deep animosity toward its neighbors.
Official media have been quick to declare Kim Jong Un as the "great successor," supreme military commander and chief of the ruling Worker's Party.