PYONGYANG (AP) -- Streams of mourners, including heir Kim Jong Un, passed by the open coffin of longtime ruler Kim Jong Il on Tuesday, his body covered with a red blanket, his head laid on a white pillow, state media showed.

The coffin of Kim Jong Il, who died of a heart attack on Saturday, was surrounded by flowers, while two guards looked over his body. A giant red curtain covered a wall behind Kim. Senior officials were shown lining up to pay their respects, one woman apparently wiping tears from her eyes.

Mourners around the country, many of them sobbing, offered flowers and last respects to Kim while state media fed a budding personality cult around his third son, hailing him as ``born of heaven.''

Flags across North Korea flew at half-staff at all military units, factories, businesses, farms and public buildings. The streets of Pyongyang were quiet, but throngs of people gathered at landmarks honoring Kim, footage from Associated Press Television News in Pyongyang showed.