Anchor: North Korea has revealed its latest power ranking in the form of a funeral committee for its first-generation leader Ri Ul-sol. A number of core officials are absent from the list, including second-generation leaders Choe Ryong-hae and O Il-jong.
Our Kim In-kyung has more on a possible power shakeup.
 
Report: The North’s Korean Central Television showed North Korean leader Kim Jong-il visiting the mortuary of Ri Ul-sol, marshal of the Korean People's Army, accompanied by a delegation of top military officials on Sunday.
 
Ri, one of the last surviving members of North Korea's first generation of leaders, died of lung cancer on Saturday at the age of 94.
 
The North will hold a state funeral for Ri and has composed a 170-member funeral committee headed by Kim.
 
But conspicuously absent from the committee are Choe Ryong-hae, secretary of the Central Committee of the North’s Workers' Party, and O Il-jong, head of the committee's military department. No reports have yet been made that Choe and O paid condolences at the Central Hall of Workers in Pyongyang where Ri's body has been laid.
 
Seoul is closely observing the North for signs of changes in its power structure as representatives of its second-generation leadership are missing at the funeral of a first-generation leader.
 
Ministry of Unification Spokesperson Jeong Joon-hee said at a regular briefing on Monday that it is unusual that Choe wasn't on the list and that the government is looking into the matter with various possibilities open.
 
For the moment, the South Korean government appears to be putting more weight on ill health or temporary probation rather than a purge.
 
It is also noteworthy that Ri Jae-il, first vice director of the party’s propaganda department, hasn't been included on the list while minister of people's security Choe Pu-il, who had been demoted following the collapse of an apartment in Pyongyang, has been reinstated.
 
Cheong Seong-chang, a senior researcher at the Sejong Institute, said the influence of the second-generation leadership will sharply weaken and that the power structure will continue to waver until the seventh party congress in May.
Kim In-kyung, KBS World Radio News.