North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has scaled the country's highest mountain to mark the anniversary of the day his late father was given the second-highest military rank, the North's state media reported Sunday.

Kim climbed Mount Paekdu, symbolizing his ancestry, a day earlier with ranking military officials, the Korean Central News Agency said.

Kim had previously ascended the mountain just after the three-year mourning period for his late father, Kim Jong-il, who died of a heart attack in December 2011.

North Korea insists Kim Jong-il was born at a village on the mountain, seen as a sacred place for Koreans, although South Korean historians say he was born in the Russian Far East.   

The elder Kim was named "wonsu," or marshal, on April 20, 1992, when his father and North Korea's founder, Kim Il-sung, was posthumously named "daewonsu," or grand marshal.

The elder Kim was also promoted to "daewonsu" following his death and shares the highest rank with his father. (Yonhap)