(CNN) -- North Korea kept the world on tenterhooks Wednesday, when the funeral of leader Kim Jong Il was expected to take place in Pyongyang.





On Wednesday morning, state television began broadcasting previously aired video of Kim Jong Il's son Kim Jong Un and other mourners paying respects in front of the late dictator as his corpse lay in state.





The secretive nation had revealed no details about the funeral, where thousands of North Koreans were expected to file past a glass case housing the body of the elder Kim, revered as a godlike "dear leader" by his people.





State television on Wednesday morning also showed historical footage recounting the life of Kim Jong Il, from the legend of his birth on a sacred mountain to his years as leader of the communist state.





Kim's funeral likely will be modeled after that of his father, Kim Il Sung, in 1994, said Han Park, a professor at the University of Georgia's School of Public and International Affairs who is also director of the Globis Center for the Study of Global Issues.





However, the funeral is expected to spotlight his son Kim Jong Un, the man designated the "great successor" by the nation's Worker's Party.





Questions have been raised about Kim Jong Un's ability to take the reins of the reclusive communist nation, given his young age -- he is thought to be in his late 20s -- and relative inexperience.





"The system will try to make sure that Kim Jong Un, this young man, is a legitimate leader, so probably he will be spotlighted in the funeral procession," said Park.





While there is no official religion in North Korea, the funeral will probably touch on the Confucian tradition of ancestor worship, Park said.





Denny Roy, a North Korea analyst at the East-West Center in Honolulu, said observers outside North Korea will be performing "the usual Kremlinology -- except in this case it's Pyongyangology." They will be watching the ceremonies for clues as to where leading figures stand in the new hierarchy, comparing the event to the 1994 funeral of North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung.





"What I expect to see is no sign that there's any hiccup or difficulty in Kim Jong Il's plan to have his son Kim Jong Un succeed him," Roy said.





Among those expected to be at the side of the "great successor" are his aunt and uncle. The late ruler's sister, Kim Kyong Hui, and her husband, Jang Sung Taek, are expected to serve as regents for the young Kim as he builds leadership experience, Roy said.





"They will be very prominently featured in all of the public ceremonies," he said. "They'll have places that are very close to Kim Jong Un. If it was otherwise, it would be a dramatic new development, but I don't expect that."





The ceremony is to be followed by a memorial on Thursday. The state-run Korean Central News Agency said when the national memorial service is held Thursday, gun volleys will be fired in the capital, Pyongyang, as well as provincial seats.





"All the people will observe three minutes' silence and all locomotives and ships (those on voyage included) will blow whistles and those units with sirens will sound them all at once," KCNA said.





While the public "outpouring of grief" will be present at the funeral, it may not be as overwhelming as it was following the death of Kim Il Sung, said Park, who has visited North Korea frequently and is in close contact with high-ranking officials there. As loved as he might be among the North Korean people, he said, "Kim Jong Il is no Kim Il Sung."





Kim Il Sung was much more charismatic, and his death was much more unexpected, he said. While Kim Il Sung was 83 to Kim Jong Il's 69, the elder Kim was thought to be in excellent health.





"Two weeks before his death, (Kim Il Sung) received Jimmy Carter," Park said, referring
Who will be watching the funeral for succession clues? What observers will do at the funeral? Whose funeral will the observers be watching?
observers outside North Korea performing "the usual Kremlinology Kim Jong Il
question: Who will be watching the funeral for succession clues?, answer: observers outside North Korea | question: What observers will do at the funeral?, answer: performing "the usual Kremlinology | question: Whose funeral will the observers be watching?, answer: Kim Jong Il