NKoreans mark key holiday, oblivious to tensions
Source: Agencies |
April 16, 2013, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
OBLIVIOUS to international tensions over a possible North Korean missile launch, Pyongyang residents spilled into the streets yesterday to celebrate a major national holiday, the birthday of the country's founder Kim Il Sung.
Girls in red and pink jackets skipped along streets festooned with celebratory banners and flags and boys on inline skates took a break from skating to slurp up bowls of shaved ice as North Koreans began observing a three-day holiday.
There was no sense of panic in the North Korean capital, where very few locals have access to international broadcasts and foreign newspapers speculating about an imminent missile launch.
Elsewhere in the region, however, the focus remained on the threat of a missile launch as US Secretary of State John Kerry wrapped up a tour to coordinate Washington's response with China, South Korea and Japan.
In Seoul, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin told a parliamentary committee yesterday that North Korea still appeared poised to launch a missile from its east coast, though he declined to disclose the source of his information.
Kerry warned North Korea not to conduct a missile test, saying it would be provocation that "will raise people's temperatures" and further isolate the country and its people.
He said on Sunday that the US was "prepared to reach out," but that North Korea must first bring down tensions and honor previous agreements.
Foreign governments have been trying to assess how seriously to take North Korea's recent torrent of rhetoric warning of war if the US and South Korea do not stop holding joint military maneuvers just across the border.
Officials in South Korea, the United States and Japan say intelligence indicates that North Korea, fresh off an underground nuclear test in February, appears ready to launch a medium-range missile.
But while the matter continued to dominate headlines abroad, Pyongyang's own media gave little indication yesterday of how high the tensions are.
The Rodong Sinmun, the Workers' Party newspaper, featured photos and coverage of current leader Kim Jong Un's overnight visit to the Kumsusan mausoleum to pay respects to his grandfather. There was only one line at the end of the article vowing to bring down the "robber-like US imperialists."
Girls in red and pink jackets skipped along streets festooned with celebratory banners and flags and boys on inline skates took a break from skating to slurp up bowls of shaved ice as North Koreans began observing a three-day holiday.
There was no sense of panic in the North Korean capital, where very few locals have access to international broadcasts and foreign newspapers speculating about an imminent missile launch.
Elsewhere in the region, however, the focus remained on the threat of a missile launch as US Secretary of State John Kerry wrapped up a tour to coordinate Washington's response with China, South Korea and Japan.
In Seoul, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin told a parliamentary committee yesterday that North Korea still appeared poised to launch a missile from its east coast, though he declined to disclose the source of his information.
Kerry warned North Korea not to conduct a missile test, saying it would be provocation that "will raise people's temperatures" and further isolate the country and its people.
He said on Sunday that the US was "prepared to reach out," but that North Korea must first bring down tensions and honor previous agreements.
Foreign governments have been trying to assess how seriously to take North Korea's recent torrent of rhetoric warning of war if the US and South Korea do not stop holding joint military maneuvers just across the border.
Officials in South Korea, the United States and Japan say intelligence indicates that North Korea, fresh off an underground nuclear test in February, appears ready to launch a medium-range missile.
But while the matter continued to dominate headlines abroad, Pyongyang's own media gave little indication yesterday of how high the tensions are.
The Rodong Sinmun, the Workers' Party newspaper, featured photos and coverage of current leader Kim Jong Un's overnight visit to the Kumsusan mausoleum to pay respects to his grandfather. There was only one line at the end of the article vowing to bring down the "robber-like US imperialists."
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