Snowstorm 'paused' before Kim Jong Il death, claims regime

North Korea says a fierce snowstorm paused and the sky began glowing red above sacred Mount Paektu, minutes before leader Kim Jong Il’s death.

State media said the ice on volcanic Lake Chon at the mountain in the far north cracked with a load roar.

And in the city of Hamhung, a Manchurian crane circled a statue of 69-year-old Kim’s father, the late President Kim Il Sung, before alighting on a tree, its head drooping before it took off towards Pyongyang, it is claimed.

Similar myths and legends also surround Kim Jong Il’s birth on Mount Paektu.

Official biographies say he was born on Paektu and that a double rainbow filled the skies when he was born.