Martin Luther King Jr. stands tall on National Mall

WASHINGTON: The United States has honoured Martin Luther King Jr., the US civil rights leader, with a memorial here on the National Mall.

The dedication, which is to include remarks by the President, Barack Obama, coincides with the 48th anniversary of the march on Washington and King's ''I Have a Dream'' speech, delivered at the Lincoln Memorial.

The statue is the centrepiece of the 1.6 hectare, $US120 million ($115 million) memorial, the only one in the mall not to honour a president or fallen soldiers.

A Chinese sculptor, Lei Yixin, was selected to create the sculpture, and an architect, Ed Jackson, designed the layout, which includes a book store, a wall with King's quotations and nearly 200 cherry trees.

The monument is also the first on the National Mall to honour an African-American, said Harry Johnson, the president of the foundation in charge of erecting it.