North Korea marks first anniversary of late ruler Kim Jong-Il's death

SEOUL (AFP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un led thousands of officials in a triumphant memorial service for his late father and ex-ruler Kim Jong-Il, days after a long-range rocket launch, state TV showed on Sunday.

The service followed a mass rally two days earlier that also lauded the launch of the three-stage rocket, a move which was condemned by the UN Security Council and seen by many countries as a disguised ballistic missile test.

Kim Jong-Il, who ruled the communist state for nearly two decades, died of heart attack on December 17 in 2011.

His youngest son, Jong-Un, immediately took over in the third-generation power transfer of the Kim dynasty which ruled the isolated country for more than six decades with an iron fist and pervasive personality cult.