>> this is "bbc world news." funding for this presentation is made possible by -- the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu newman's own foundation focus features and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to know your business. offering specialized solutions and capital to meet your growth objectives, we offer expertise and tailored solutions for small businesses and major corporations. what can we do for you?

>> and now, "bbc world news." >> and no respite from the violence in syria, despite the arab league monitoring. the united states warned it will not tolerate iran's threats to the middle east. silence for military gun salutes in p'yongyang. the funeral ceremony for kim jong il. welcome to bbc news. the broadcast on pbs in america, and around the world. a brush with the law. orthodox protesters clashed in a christmas cleanup at jesus''s presumed birth place. a descendant of gandhi. can he receive -- revive the fortunes of the congress party?

welcome to bbc news. in national memorial service in north korea for kim jong il is beginning. we believe so, anyway. these are the pictures coming to us live from the north korean capital of p'yongyang. you just got a glimpse of the thousands of mourners who have gathered. morning guns will be boomed in p'yongyang and provincial seats around the country to coincide with the national memorial service in the capital. of course, one of the mourners in chief will be kim jong il's third son, kim jong un. it is believed, because his official appointment as successor has not been

confirmed, but all the indications coming from the north korean media are that kim jong un -- he is believed to be 27 or 28 years old. the exact date of his birth is not official knowledge. he will be the new leader. the sun in his late 20's becomes the third member of the kim dynasty to rule over this very secretive state. lucy williamson, our correspondent, is in the south korean capital, seoul. do we know how this day is going to end? his unofficial burial going to take place? yesterday, there was a three hour-long procession through the streets of p'yongyang. then we have this continuation today, thursday in north korea. >> he was laid to rest yesterday, next to his father. today is quite different. extraordinary pictures which i

hope you are seeing now. a really impressive feat of human engineering, the able to get perhaps a million people together in the central square of p'yongyang for this last memorial, last act of memorial. >> this is what kim jong il's father also used to do, the former leader. he had these very big set pieces to show the people, really the north koreans themselves, how strong the government was and what it could do to mobilize people. >> absolutely. if you wanted any example, any proof that north korea was still in safe hands, that it could still mobilize these orchestrated, well disciplined lines of people, here it is. it is proof they can still do that. the levers of power are still working in north korea.

even as these pictures are coming in now, the young successor you mentioned, perhaps 29 years old, is again taking a very prominent role in the service, standing up in the middle of the more established elders in the north korean political scene, leading this final act of remembrance for his father. >> do we have any idea of what the people outside the capital really know about their own country? it seems as if there is the correa projected by the leadership of the nation, and the one that other countries outside portray north korea to be. >> even within the country. but between p'yongyang and some of the rural areas in the northeast, a very different set of circumstances. you are likely to be much poorer, scrambling for food, perhaps even on the verge of starvation in some areas of north korea. in p'yongyang, you are likely to

be relatively well looked after. most of the pictures we are seeing mourning the death of kim jong-il to come from the capital, where people are handpicked to live. i think that is something to bear in mind. the pictures we are seeing the not necessarily represent the whole country. >> what is happening in south korea right now? do people care at all? >> people in south korea have had a muted reaction to this. the pictures coming out just now are extraordinary. but i think people here in the south are used to extraordinary images from their northern neighbor, unpredictable events. i think a lot of people simply prefer not to think about it that much. the government here, since the death of kim jong-il, urged people to keep on and carry on

with their daily lives, which is more or less what they are doing. it has put the military on high alert. it is keeping a close look at how things develop. >> we have a translation of what is being said of the national memorial service. [speaking korean] >> we share our pain and hardships. how lucky we were to have such a great leader. we are deeply aware of our revolutionary symbol in that mountain.

coming from the revolutionary simple place, you had such a spiritual ideology. you lead us all to the victory and revolution. you demonstrated great achievement for all of us in terms of revolution in our country. you took over president can ill radiology,h,

everything. you took over the best part. you had such a noble life. your personality was noble. our great leader, kim jong il -- he took over the ideologies, and tried to lead our nation. you tried to prosper the economy as well. revolution and construction.

you voted for our party. the fatherland. you transcended party and land. even more after his father. you established a strong foundation in this country, in this nation. the great leader, kim jong il. he was such a revolutionary. he created a new history. ,e followed his father's steps a great achievement.

therefore, we will never forget. those will remain in our hearts forever. our great leader never showed a weakness in front of imperialists. he always tried to protect ourself dependence. -- our self-dependence. he expressed our pride to the world. he is an incredible patriot for our country. also, our great leader during the hardships, especially march

of hardships. he led our armies and he educated our armies the strongest. and because of our nuclear power, we proudly demonstrated our strength to the world. we gained confidence and strength in our nation. because of his leadership, he opened up the prosperity of the party. our great leader, kim jong il, led the party.

he inherited father's idea of the nation construction, economy. and he led us all. as a result, our nation prospered. his revolution leadership always were with us. he put all the people first. he tried to cherish peoples' happiness.

in life, he was very, very kind father for us. he tried to improve our lives. he traveled everywhere. -- he traveled everywhere, to give us instructions. it does not matter how long time goes by. we will never forget the loss.

he also opened up a new era for the new relationship with the south, such as the joint statement. he opened up a new way for the south and north relationship. he also acknowledged 21st century political at international relationship. he understood the new era. he understood all the world affairs. through that, he tried to

improve our nation better direction, based on our ideologies. he only lead our revolution to the victory. such a great politician he was. such a great revolution last -- revolutionalist he was. also, our great leader. he had a strong mission. he felt he took over the obligation to lead our

revolution. he achieved so many things. he perfectly achieved many things, because he carried our nation first. that was his best, first goal. today -- >> on that shot of kim jong un, we will bring in a studio analyst aden foster, from the university of leeds. extraordinary scenes.

where can you see some many people standing still in one place? >> getting called on a frosty morning in p'yongyang. i do not know any country that could do this, nor that there will be a great rush of competition to try. it is called in north korea. people are called inside their houses. -- people are cold inside their houses, too. this man actually lead their country into famine, and many other things as well. all of that will come later, perhaps. there, they are assembled. they are listening. this is all they have known for a long time. it is an astonishing scene, isn't it? >> on wednesday, the procession

around p'yongyang -- what do you make of that? all outside observers are saying it is just choreographed. it is not sincere. it is just a show. >> i would not necessarily say that. i think choreographed is true. kim il-sung, who started all of this, was on record as complaining once about the actresses looking scruffy. i do not think they run the regime entirely as theater. it is a remarkable skill. it is also incredibly self- defeating. it means the real politics, which will break out soonerthint

or later, power struggles, and different policies -- there is no proper space where those legitimately. it is not immaterial to be able to do this. i think it is choreographed. it is a sort of a pyrrhic victory, an odd kind of achievement. it can do this, but it cannot feed its people. it can do this, but some of the people in the capital will be cold inside their houses, and certainly are now, standing in the streets. it is remarkable. in a way, there is no point to it. the morning after, but will face hard decisions. >> isn't the point to if the young man we have seen in the picture? isn't it as much about the future as it is about his father, no longer the leader of these people? ubehehe 4 this was never normal. >> what do you think they will be making of kim jong>> make sense of international -- of kim jong u n? >> north koreans are not stupid. do you trust your future to this guy? he does not know anything. they know that. they must be careful of the future and how it will turn out. >> thank you. please stay here. we are going to speak to see williamson, our correspondent in seoul. presumably, south korea has had some time to prepare for this transition. what have they been preparing? do they feel this is an

opportunity they can take advantage of? >> of career is not saying what it is thinking. -- south korea is not saying what it is thinking. it does not want to reply in 1994, when kim il-sung died. it offered no condolences. it would not let anyone to express sympathies. relations took a nosedive. now, the have a nuanced approach. the have expressed their sympathies to the north korean people, and they have allowed to prominence of koreans to go north to express some of these. they are trying to tread a tightrope between their own policies and not wanting to lose any chance to reset relations with the north. >> is there a feeling things can only get better after recent tension? >> i am not sure that is the only feeling. what you are saying about how kim jong un is being presented

-- one of the things that came across strongly was how much they were emphasizing how kim jong il was taking the ideologies of his father, and presenting it as a continuing, a process that started when north korea was created and is simply carrying down. i think the effects of that, and having kim jong-il at the forefront yesterday and today, sends a strong message, trying to bolster this very young, very inexperienced figurehead. >> did the statement of the south korean government tally with what the people are saying, and the newspapers? >> it is put at the moment. the government here is conservative. they have taken a tougher line against p'yongyang. but the country has different opinions. there are some that are much more pro-north then the people in power. one of the reasons the south

korean government has kept a lid on expressions of sympathy toward north korea is that it does not want to see divisions deepen in south korea as a result of what is happening in the north. >> what kind of country is kim jong un inheriting? how poor is north korea? >> it is an extraordinary mix. we have seen the choreography. it has nuclear weapons. but in terms of its poverty, when you think 30 or 40 years ago it was ahead of south korea , today, the south koreans throw away more food than the north koreans eat. south koreans are physically larger than north koreans. this is grown up in the last few years. the north koreans have not

they have a famine in the late 1990's. there is a good deal of malnutrition. since the russians pulled the plug -- it was still the soviet union in 1991. everybody else adapted. the north koreans have not done anything different. there are a desperately poor country for most people. we are seeing the showpiece of the capital, not the countryside. >> do you think kim jong u n knows that, or has led such a sheltered life that he will believe everything his father's

cohorts' told him? "probably does know that. statements attributed to him suggest he wants people to live better. the key is going to be economics. from the late kim jong il -- in 1996, there was a speech. the famine was just the beginning. he said his father told him not to worry about the economy. concentrate on the party and the army. that is what matters. it is as if he does not get economics. it is a science. but i think kim jong alone -- kim jong un does know. it could do him some good, quite honestly, if there was away, a fat check from china, that allowed him to turn the heat in on a bit. there must be a strong incentive to do that, against which the hardline would say if you talk about reform it implies you were wrong. you cannot admit you were ever wrong, especially not the grandfather was wrong. it is a huge weakness. >> let us stay on the issue of succession. the south korea look on it as a positive or negative that kim jong un is not even 30 years old yet? >> it concerns a lot of people. correa likes age. it treats it with respect. to a certain degree, having a

twentysomething in charge of a nuclear country worries a great many people, particularly as he has not had that long to embed himself. >> makes sense of international news. bbc.com/news. >> funding for this presentation is made possible by -- the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu newman's own foundation and union bank. >> you are no longer in the service. only an outsider can find the double agent. >> i'll do my utmost. >> from the bestseller by john le carre -- >> all i want from you is one code name. >> it will take a master spy -- >> you are alone. >> you can't mention me. >> to catch a spy. >> you have to assume they're watching you. >> what the hell are you doing up here?

>> things aren't always what they seem. >> "tinker tailor soldier spy." >> rated r. >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles.