Swallows in mourning - official

SEOUL (AFP) - Even the birds and the heavens above North Korea mourned the passing of the 'Great Leader', according to the country's official media.

Pyongyang Radio said a swallow flew into a classroom in the western city of Nampo last week and 'wept for 10 minutes', then 'prayed for five minutes' in front of a portait of Kim Il Sung.

In Sungchon County, three wild geese wailed, circled three times over a Kim Il Sung statue, and flew away. Flocks of swallows converged on another giant statue of Kim and hovered over it in homage, the radio said.

Not to be outdone, the state-run Korea Central News Agency reported that Mother Nature herself came close to tears over the death of the 'Great Leader.' Masses of tri-coloured clouds, rainbows and other celestial wonders had appeared in the days since his death, the agency said.