Kim Pyong-il shed tears over Kim's death: official

WARSAW, Dec. 23 (Yonhap) -- Kim Pyong-il, the North Korean ambassador to Poland, is deeply grieving the death of his half brother and the socialist country's leader Kim Jong-il, an embassy official said Friday. Kim Jong-il, who ruled the country for decades with an iron fist, died of a heart attack last week during a train ride, according to the North Korean state media. Born to the North's founding leader, Kim Il-sung, and his second wife, Kim Song-ae, Kim Pyong-il was once a rival to the recently deceased leader to succeed his father. When Kim Jong-il started to consolidate power in the 1980s, however, his half brother was dispatched abroad as an ambassador to Hungary, Bulgaria and then Finland in an apparent bid by the North Korean leadership to sideline him from domestic politics. He took up his current post in January 1998. "He grieved deeply over the death of the leader, shedding tears. It was my first time to see him mourn so deeply," an official of the North Korean embassy in Poland told Yonhap News Agency. He declined to be identified. "The ambassador is still here, receiving mourners." the official said, adding ambassador Kim has yet to decide whether to fly to Pyongyang to attend the funeral of his older sibling. (END)