North Korea has observed the 25th anniversary of the death of its founding leader Kim Il-sung on a scale not seen for years. 

The North’s official Korean Central Television aired a recorded video of the commemorative event for the former leader at 3 p.m. on Monday. 

With the country’s incumbent leader Kim Jong-un in attendance at the memorial rally held at Pyongyang Gymnasium, the North Korean ruling party’s Propaganda and Agitation Department director Pak Kwang-ho declared the opening of the 45-minute-long event. 

In a following eulogy, vice chairman of the North's Workers' Party Choe Ryong-hae credited Kim Il-sung with what he claimed to be the communist country’s growth into a political and military powerhouse. 

It is the first time in five years the North held a commemorative event on the anniversary of Kim Il-sung’s death. 

Kim Jong-un also paid a visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang, the resting place of the North Korean leader’s grandfather as well as his father and former leader Kim Jong-il. 

For the first time in five years, a siren was sounded for three minutes of silence across the North at noon, with residents halting their activities to pay their respects to the late founder.