KIM FETES NUKE SCIENTISTS
Massive banquet held to celebrate biggest nuclear test last Sunday
NORTH Korean leader Kim Jong-un hosted a massive celebration to congratulate his nuclear scientists and technicians who steered the country’s sixth and largest nuclear test a week ago, its official news agency said yesterday.
The United States and its allies had been bracing for another long-range missile launch in time for the 69th anniversary of North Korea’s founding on Saturday, but no provocations were spotted while the North held numerous events to mark the holiday.
Throughout last week, South Korean officials had warned the North could launch another intercontinental ballistic missile in defiance of United Nations sanctions and amid an escalating standoff with the US.
Washington told the UN Security Council on Friday to call a meeting today to vote on a draft resolution establishing additional sanctions on North Korea.
Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said it was vital to put pressure on North Korea through additional sanctions, including blocking or slowing its fuel supplies.
“If we put firm pressure on North Korea such that it realises it cannot develop missiles, it will accept dialogue and we can progress with diplomatic efforts,” Onodera told public broadcaster NHK yesterday.
“Unless we firmly apply pressure, North Korea will not change its direction.”
Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim threw a banquet to laud the nuclear scientists and other top military and party officials who contributed to the nuclear bomb test last Sunday, topped with a performance and photo session with the leader himself.
Photos released yesterday showed the young leader breaking into a broad smile at the People’s Theatre with two prominent scientists — Ri Hong-sop, head of North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons Institute, and Hong Sung-mu, deputy director of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea’s munitions industry department.
Ri and Hong have played vital roles in the North’s nuclear programme, appearing at close distance to Kim during field inspections and weapons tests, including the latest nuclear test.
Ri is a former director of Yongbyon Nuclear Research Centre, Pyongyang’s main nuclear facility, where Hong also worked as a chief engineer.
North Korea had said the latest test was an advanced hydrogen bomb.
KCNA yesterday said the scientists and technicians “brought the great auspicious event of the national history, an extra-large event through the perfect success in the test of H-bomb”.
Kim praised the developers in his own remarks as “taking the lead” in attaining the “final goal of completing the state nuclear force”.
“The recent test of the H-bomb is the great victory won by the Korean people at the cost of their blood while tightening their belts in the arduous period,” Kim said.
Ri and Hong’s roles have also been noted overseas, prompting the United Nations, the US and South Korea to blacklist them.
Aside from the elite, rank-andfile North Koreans also commemorated the anniversary on Saturday by visiting the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, which houses the embalmed bodies of founding father Kim Il-sung and his son and successor, Kim Jong-il. Reuters