North Korea holds state funeral for deceased leader.

North Korea has begun two days of funeral services for its late leader Kim Jong-il, with hundreds of thousands expected to attend in Pyongyang, BBC News reported.

Few details are known and there will be no foreign delegations but a procession is expected on Wednesday, echoing that for Kim's father, Kim Il-sung, in 1994.

As then, the funeral is expected to be used to cement the succession of new leader Kim Jong-un.

Kim Jong-il died of a heart attack on 17 December, aged 69, state media said.

He has been lying in state since then.

No schedule has been released for the commemorations and as of 0230GMT North Korean state television was not broadcasting events live.

This ceremony is said to be an important event for North Korea to cement the authority of its next leader - a man not yet 30 and with little experience of government.

But it is also a rare opportunity for those outside the country to glimpse the internal power structure of the Communist state.
Many of the country's key positions are still held by a coterie of men and women around its former leader - senior military and party officials who may well now be jostling for influence in the new regime.

And some say North Korea's reluctance to open up the funeral ceremony to foreign delegations may signal that those hierarchies have not yet been fully agreed.

Foreign diplomats have been asked to assemble at a stadium to be taken to the Kumsusan Memorial Palace - where Mr Kim is lying in state - for a funeral procession through Pyongyang, AP news agency reports.

As in 1994, observers say there will probably be a large photograph of the late leader, smiling, on prominent display.
Citizens will line the streets, with many of the women in traditional black dresses.

There have been many images of distraught citizens released by state media since the death. Early on Wednesday it broadcast more footage of weeping mourners. 

Thursday is expected to feature a three-minute silence at noon local time, followed by trains and ships sounding horns. The national memorial service will then begin.