North Korea heaved praise on leader Kim Jong-il on Sunday as it marked an important national anniversary but kept silent on its declared pledge to conduct its first known nuclear bomb test.
Sunday marked the ninth anniversary of when Kim became the head of the North's ruling Workers' Party. The day is one of the most significant national anniversaries in the isolated communist country.
North Korea surprised the world by announcing on Oct. 3 that it would detonate a nuclear device to counter what it called increasing U.S. military threats and sanctions but did not say when.
Citing the North's track record of timing its important decisions with its national anniversaries or holidays, some outside analysts predicted that the country may put its pledge through on Sunday or Tuesday, which is the 61st anniversary of the founding of its communist party.
A former South Korean lawmaker, however, claimed the North has yet to begin preparations for a test, citing unidentified Chinese diplomatic sources.
Chang Sung-min, a former member of the then-ruling Millennium Democratic Party, said unidentified North Korean officials have recently told his Chinese contacts that Pyongyang might consider retracting its nuclear test plans if Washington proposes bilateral talks to discuss the nuclear issue.
"The North Korean officials also said North Korea would speed up its preparations for a nuclear test if the United States continues to take hard-line measures, such as sanctions by the United Nations" against the communist state, Chang told Yonhap News Agency, citing the Chinese sources.
"(The North Koreans) said their country would immediately begin preparations to test a nuclear weapon if the United States leans toward sanctions and military attacks against the North rather than holding talks," said Chang, who currently heads a private think tank, the World and Northeast Asia Peace Forum.
South Korean officials also said they remained on heightened alert around the clock, but said no signs of a pending nuclear test have been detected.
Even without anti-U.S. criticism, the North's media ran long laudatory articles and commentaries for its leader on Sunday, according to South Korean monitors.
"Our dear leader has exerted his extraordinary foreknowledge and superior political talent to bring the all-out development of our-style socialism," the North's main newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, said in an editorial, carried by the country's Korean Central News Agency.
"Our people's army, the core of our wholehearted unity, is the top death-defying corps that upholds and implements the ideas and routes of our leader," it said.
Kim, 63, has no official government title but rules North Korea in his capacity as chairman of the National Defense Commission and general-secretary of the Workers' Party. His main political backbone is the country's 1.1-million-member military.
"At a time when enemies raved around to suppress our republic, our dear leader lifted our military-first flag even higher," the North's Korean Central Broadcasting Station said in a report, monitored in Seoul.
North Korea said in February, 2005 that it had nuclear weapons but has not tested one to prove that. The CIA says that the country is believed to have one or two atomic bombs and have enough weapons-grade plutonium to make several more.
North Korea has been resisting international pressure since November to rejoin the stalled six-party talks on its nuclear weapons program. Also involved in the talks are South Korea, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia.
The North vows not to return to the negotiating table until Washington stops its financial crackdown on its alleged currency counterfeiting, money laundering and drug trafficking.
Seoul, Oct. 8 (Yonhap News)
N. Korea keeps mum on nuclear test plan on leader's anniversary |
