North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has marked the 12th anniversary of the death of his father and predecessor Kim Jong-il by visiting a mausoleum where the father's body lies in state, the North's state media said Sunday.

Kim paid tribute the previous day at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the bodies of Kim Jong-il and the current leader's late grandfather and national founder Kim Il-sung lie in state, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

Senior officials accompanied Kim on his visit, including North Korean Premier Kim Tok-hun and Jo Yong-won, secretary for organizations affairs at the ruling Workers' Party. Photos released by the state media also showed North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui and Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader.

Kim made a "deep bow of best wishes for immortality to Kim Jong-il who performed the exploits of great significance in human history, waging a heroic struggle under the uplifted red flag of Juche during his long revolutionary guidance, and thus laid a solid foundation of dignity and prosperity for the WPK and the DPRK to win a victory after another forever," the KCNA said in an English-language article. Juche means self-reliance.

Kim has paid tribute at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on his late father's death anniversary every year since he took power in 2012 with the exception of last year, when he appears to have skipped the event. (Yonhap)