ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)<br/> <br />STORY: North Korea's Army, Navy and Air Force on Monday pledged their loyalty to the country's former and current leader, marking first anniversary of late Kim Jong-il's death.<br/> <br />The reclusive country's state-run television KRT on Tuesday released footage of thousands of North Korean soldiers holding a memorial service in front of the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun.<br/> <br />"Our supreme commander Kim Jong-un said, 'As the army of the Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, the People's Army should continue performing the honorable duty and mission excellently,'" said Choe Ryong-hae, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party and Director of the North Korean Army General Political Bureau, in his speech.<br/> <br />In the palace, embalmed bodies of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung and former leader Kim Jong-il lie in state permanently in the same mausoleum.<br/> <br />On December 17, 2011, North Korean state media announced Kim's death.<br/> <br />A state funeral and a commemorative event marked 10 days of mourning and his son, Kim Jong-un, was hailed as the "great successor".
