Pyongyang, December 24 (KCNA) -- Harish Gupta, director general of the Asian Regional Institute of the Juche Idea, paid a condolatory visit to the DPRK embassy in India Wednesday on the demise of leader Kim Jong Il.

He wrote in the condolence book that Kim Jong Il's sudden passing is a great loss not only to the Koreans but to the world progressives.

Kim Jong Il built the DPRK into a political and military power, he wrote, adding that Kim Jong Il loved the people very much and the people respected him.

Harish Gupta wrote he can not repress bitter grief, extending solidarity to Kim Jong Un, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea, and the brave Korean people.