Pyongyang, December 21 (KCNA) -- A great number of people visited the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, where the bier of leader Kim Jong Il is placed, to express condolences on Tuesday.

Servicepersons of the Korean People's Army, working people of all social strata and youth and students visited the mourning place, hardly holding back tears. They have been stricken with heartrending grief since the announcement of the death of Kim Jong Il that came like a bolt from the blue.

Seen before the bier were shoulder straps of the DPRK Marshal, Kim Il Sung Order, Kim Il Sung Prize, medals of the DPRK hero and labor hero and lots of other orders and medals.

Seen beside the bier was a wreath from Kim Jong Un, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea.

Members of the National Funeral Committee were standing guards of honor by the side of the bier.

Amid the solemn playing of funeral music, wreaths in the name of the State Science and Technology Commission, Ministry of Electronics Industry, Ministry of Construction and Building Materials Industry, Ministry of Land and Marine Transport, Ministry of Agriculture, the Rodong Sinmun, Korean Central News Agency, Central Broadcasting Committee of Korea, Kim Il Sung University, Pyongyang 326 Electric Wire Factory, units of KPA and the Korean People's Internal Security Forces, and others were placed before the bier.

Looking up to the venerable image of Kim Jong Il, the mourners burst into tears, finding it hard to repress welling up tears.

They observed a moment's silence calling back with deep emotion the undying revolutionary life of the peerlessly great man dedicated to the country and people.