ID :
57379
Sat, 04/25/2009 - 10:54
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/57379
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N. Korean leader hails rocket launch as `historic event` in morale-boosting visit
SEOUL, April 24 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il hailed the country's
recent launch of what it calls a communications satellite as a "historic event"
as he visited scientists and staff who worked on the project, Pyongyang's media
said Friday.
North Korea insists the April 5 launch successfully put the satellite
Kwangmyongsong-2 into orbit, while outside monitors say no such object has
entered space.
The U.N. Security Council condemned the launch as violating a 2006 U.N.
resolution banning the North's ballistic activity, prompting North Korea to
withdraw from nuclear disarmament talks and expel international inspectors in
protest. Pyongyang says the U.N. action is unfair, as the North was exercising
its sovereign right to develop space.
The official Korean Central News Agency said Kim met the scientists, technicians,
workers and officials who contributed to the successful launch of the satellite
Kwangmyongsong-2 and posed for a photograph with them.
Kim "acknowledged (their) enthusiastic cheers and extended warm greetings to
them," it said.
The "successful launch of the satellite, an aggregate of science and technology,
marked a national auspicious event which powerfully demonstrated before the world
the dignity and invincible national power of Songun (military-first) Korea ...
and a historic event which signified the first gun salute heralding the victory
in the great struggle to build a great prosperous and powerful nation," it said.
Kim was accompanied by members of the National Defense Commission (NDC), the top
military decision-making body, including Kim Yong-chun, minister of the People's
Armed Forces and vice-chairman of the NDC, Ri Yong-ho, chief of the General
Staff of the Korean People's Army, Jon Pyong-ho, secretary of the Workers' Party
central committee, Kim Jong-gak, first vice director of the General Political
Bureau of the Korean People's Army, and Kim Il-chol, first vice-minister of the
People's Armed Forces, the report said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
recent launch of what it calls a communications satellite as a "historic event"
as he visited scientists and staff who worked on the project, Pyongyang's media
said Friday.
North Korea insists the April 5 launch successfully put the satellite
Kwangmyongsong-2 into orbit, while outside monitors say no such object has
entered space.
The U.N. Security Council condemned the launch as violating a 2006 U.N.
resolution banning the North's ballistic activity, prompting North Korea to
withdraw from nuclear disarmament talks and expel international inspectors in
protest. Pyongyang says the U.N. action is unfair, as the North was exercising
its sovereign right to develop space.
The official Korean Central News Agency said Kim met the scientists, technicians,
workers and officials who contributed to the successful launch of the satellite
Kwangmyongsong-2 and posed for a photograph with them.
Kim "acknowledged (their) enthusiastic cheers and extended warm greetings to
them," it said.
The "successful launch of the satellite, an aggregate of science and technology,
marked a national auspicious event which powerfully demonstrated before the world
the dignity and invincible national power of Songun (military-first) Korea ...
and a historic event which signified the first gun salute heralding the victory
in the great struggle to build a great prosperous and powerful nation," it said.
Kim was accompanied by members of the National Defense Commission (NDC), the top
military decision-making body, including Kim Yong-chun, minister of the People's
Armed Forces and vice-chairman of the NDC, Ri Yong-ho, chief of the General
Staff of the Korean People's Army, Jon Pyong-ho, secretary of the Workers' Party
central committee, Kim Jong-gak, first vice director of the General Political
Bureau of the Korean People's Army, and Kim Il-chol, first vice-minister of the
People's Armed Forces, the report said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
