North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared to skip an annual visit to Kim Jong Il’s memorial on Thursday, the first time he has missed the ceremony marking his father’s birth anniversary.

Senior party and government officials including cabinet premier Kim Tok Hun, Choe Ryong Hae and Ri Pyong Chol paid their respects to North Korea’s two former leaders at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang, the party daily Rodong Sinmun reported Friday.