Pyongyang, December 22 (KCNA) -- Personages of India and international and regional bodies mourned the demise of leader Kim Jong Il.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of India E. Ahmed, together with the director of Department for East Asia, Tuesday called at the DPRK embassy in New Delhi to mourn his demise.

They laid a bouquet before the portrait of Kim Jong Il and paid silent tribute to him.

The minister said the Indian government was greatly shocked by the sad news that Kim Jong Il passed away all of a sudden.

I was authorized by the government to express deep condolences to the government and people of the DPRK, he added.

He said the Indian government sincerely hopes the Korean people will overcome the sorrow as soon as possible and more dynamically turn out in the struggle for building a thriving nation and reunifying the country.

Suneet Chopra, member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and secretary general of the All India Indo-Korean Friendship Association, Deba Prasad, member of the Political Bureau of the United Center for Socialism, Vijay, vice-president of the Indian People's Party, Vijay Chopra, director of the Interraz Advertizing Company, Vishwanath, director-general of the International Institute of the Juche Idea, and S.K. Banerji, secretary general of the Asian Committee for Peace, Solidarity and Human Rights visited the DPRK embassy on Tuesday and made entries in the mourners' book.