N. Koreans celebrate nuke test amid reports of heir designation

SEOUL, June 2 (Yonhap) -- North Koreans rallied nationwide to celebrate their
country's second nuclear test, state media said Tuesday, amid speculation that
leader Kim Jong-il was crediting the blast to his third and youngest son.

Sources told Yonhap News Agency on Monday that immediately after the May 25 test,
Kim notified the country's key institutions -- the Korean People's Army, the
Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly and the Cabinet -- as well as its
diplomatic missions abroad that he has designated Kim Jong-un as his successor.
The reported notification followed intelligence acquired by Yonhap four months
earlier that the senior Kim chose Jong-un as his heir and sent such a directive
to the Workers' Party leadership on Jan. 8, Jong-un's birthday.
South Korea's major daily Dong-A Ilbo ran a similar report on the official
notification on Tuesday.
Jong-un, in his mid-20s, was born to Kim's third wife, Ko Yong-hi, who died of
breast cancer at age 51 in 2004. Jong-un is believed to have been educated at the
International School of Berne and to be a fan of NBA basketball. After his return
to Pyongyang in his late teens, the North has kept him under a shroud of secrecy
and very little is known about his character.
Kim Jong-il was 32 when he was tapped as successor by his father and the nation's
founder, Kim Il-sung, in a general meeting of the Workers' Party in 1974. He took
over after his father's death in 1994.
Jong-un's succession, if actualized, will mark the second father-to-son power
transfer in the North, unprecedented in the history of communist nations.
State media hailed the latest nuclear test as a "historic event" that
demonstrated the "dignity and might of Songun Korea to the world." Songun refers
to the North's military-first doctrine initiated by Kim Jong-il.
The "successful nuclear test that was held under the serious situation sparked by
the U.S. and its followers' reckless maneuvers ... will protect the sovereignty
and socialism of this country and contribute to maintaining the peace and safety
of the region," a speaker at one of the mass rallies was quoted as saying by
Radio Pyongyang.
The gatherings started in Pyongyang a day after the test. North Korea routinely
holds mass rallies in the capital and local towns after important events in an
apparent attempt to maximize propaganda and internal unity. Similar events
followed a long-range rocket launch on April 5.
Following the nation's first nuclear test in October 2006, celebratory rallies
were organized 11 days later.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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