PYONGYANG, North Korea – Clapping, waving and even cracking a smile, the youngest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il joined his father Sunday at a massive military parade in his most public appearance since being unveiled as the nation's next leader.
Kim Jong Un, dressed in a dark blue civilian suit, sat next to his father on an observation platform at Kim Il Sung Plaza as armored trucks with rocket launchers and tanks rolled by as part of celebrations marking the 65th anniversary of the reclusive state's ruling Workers' Party.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: AP Seoul Bureau Chief Jean H. Lee and photographer Vincent Yu were among a small group of foreign journalists allowed into North Korea for events surrounding the 65th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Worker's Party and the anointment of Kim Jong Un as the nation's next leader.
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It was a momentous public debut for Kim Jong Un less than two weeks after he was made a four-star general and set on the path to succession, which would carry the Kim dynasty over the communist country into a third generation. His grandfather, Kim Il Sung, was the nation's founder.
Just days earlier, the world got a first glimpse of the son from photos published in a state newspaper. Sunday's appearance was carried live by state TV, beaming him into North Korean households and giving the people their first good look at the future leader.
Seeing the two Kims side by side above a huge portrait of Kim Il Sung, and later waving to the crowd, drew raucous cheers of "Hurrah!" and some tears from North Koreans attending the parade in the heart of Pyongyang.
"Kim Jong Il! Protect him to the death!" "Kim Jong Il, let's unite to support him!" they chanted as the 68-year-old leader walked the length of the platform, appearing to limp slightly and gripping the banister.
The Kims later also appeared at a nighttime celebration that exploded into a grand spectacle of fireworks and patriotic music. Historical footage of Kim Il Sung played on big screens as thousands of dancers below performed intricate choreographed routines. At one point, the dancers seemed to transform the stadium floor into a vast sea of ocean waves, then a field of trees.
The Worker's Party parade was said to be North Korea's largest ever, an impressive display of unity and military might for a country known for its elaborately staged performances.
Thousands of troops from every branch of North Korea's 1.2 million-member military, as well as naval academies and military nursing schools, goose-stepped around the plaza to the accompaniment of a military brass band while citizens waved plastic bouquets.
Trucks loaded with katyusha rocket launchers rolled past, but they were dwarfed by a series of missiles, each larger than the last and emblazoned with: "Defeat the U.S. military. U.S. soldiers are the Korean People's Army's enemy."
"If the U.S. imperialists and their followers infringe on our sovereignty and dignity even slightly, we will blow up the stronghold of their aggression with a merciless and righteous retaliatory strike by mobilizing all physical means, including self-defensive nuclear deterrent force, and achieve the historic task of unification," Ri Yong Ho, chief of the General Staff of the North Korean army, said at the event.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported that the parade included three never-before-shown types of missiles and launching devices, including one thought to be a new "Musudan" intermediate-range ballistic missile with a range of 1,860 to 3,100 miles (3,000 to 5,000 kilometers), capable of hitting Japan and Guam.
South Korea's Defense Ministry said it could not immediately comment on the report, and a call to South Korea's top spy agency seeking comment went unanswered Sunday.
The parade, however, was probably less about showing off the country's military might than about introducing Kim Jong Un to the North Korean people and building his image as the next leader, according to Baek Seung-joo, a North Korea analyst at South Korea's Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.
"The parade served as a sign that the military has loyalty to the successor," said Kim Yong-hyun, an expert on North Korea at Seoul's Dongguk University.
If so, it was a heady debut for the mysterious young man who until two weeks ago was a virtual unknown outside North Korea's inner circle of military and political elite.
The question of who would lead the nuclear-armed nation of 24 million had arisen after Kim Jong Il reportedly suffered a stroke in 2008, and it was the leader third son, the Swiss-educated Kim Joing Un, who emerged as the heir apparent, despite his youth and inexperience.
In order to let the world see the man dubbed the "Young General," the regime allowed international journalists to capture the spectacle after more than two years of virtually closing its borders to foreign media. A select group of media outlets were given front-row seats at events where the Kims appeared.
The South Korean government believes the younger Kim to be 26, born on Jan. 8, 1984. On Sunday, he was poised in public, every inch his father's son in both looks and demeanor as he joined Kim Jong Il in raising a hand to salute the troops parading past.
Meanwhile, activists protested the succession plan along the southern side of the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas.
"North Koreans," read one banner, "wake up and resist the people's murderer Kim Jong Il's shameful three-generational hereditary succession of power."
Activists also sent some 20,000 leaflets packed with $1 bills and CDs carrying anti-Kim Jong Un rap songs floating across the border in hopes of reaching ordinary North Koreans, according to Park Sang-hak, a defector who now lives in Seoul.
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Associated Press writers Kwang-tae Kim and Tomoko A. Hosaka in Seoul, South Korea, and Suhjung Kang in Paju, South Korea, contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101010/ap_on_re_as/as_nkorea_succession
Kim Jong Un, dressed in a dark blue civilian suit, sat next to his father on an observation platform at Kim Il Sung Plaza as armored trucks with rocket launchers and tanks rolled by as part of celebrations marking the 65th anniversary of the reclusive state's ruling Workers' Party.
___
EDITOR'S NOTE: AP Seoul Bureau Chief Jean H. Lee and photographer Vincent Yu were among a small group of foreign journalists allowed into North Korea for events surrounding the 65th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Worker's Party and the anointment of Kim Jong Un as the nation's next leader.
___
It was a momentous public debut for Kim Jong Un less than two weeks after he was made a four-star general and set on the path to succession, which would carry the Kim dynasty over the communist country into a third generation. His grandfather, Kim Il Sung, was the nation's founder.
Just days earlier, the world got a first glimpse of the son from photos published in a state newspaper. Sunday's appearance was carried live by state TV, beaming him into North Korean households and giving the people their first good look at the future leader.
Seeing the two Kims side by side above a huge portrait of Kim Il Sung, and later waving to the crowd, drew raucous cheers of "Hurrah!" and some tears from North Koreans attending the parade in the heart of Pyongyang.
"Kim Jong Il! Protect him to the death!" "Kim Jong Il, let's unite to support him!" they chanted as the 68-year-old leader walked the length of the platform, appearing to limp slightly and gripping the banister.
The Kims later also appeared at a nighttime celebration that exploded into a grand spectacle of fireworks and patriotic music. Historical footage of Kim Il Sung played on big screens as thousands of dancers below performed intricate choreographed routines. At one point, the dancers seemed to transform the stadium floor into a vast sea of ocean waves, then a field of trees.
The Worker's Party parade was said to be North Korea's largest ever, an impressive display of unity and military might for a country known for its elaborately staged performances.
Thousands of troops from every branch of North Korea's 1.2 million-member military, as well as naval academies and military nursing schools, goose-stepped around the plaza to the accompaniment of a military brass band while citizens waved plastic bouquets.
Trucks loaded with katyusha rocket launchers rolled past, but they were dwarfed by a series of missiles, each larger than the last and emblazoned with: "Defeat the U.S. military. U.S. soldiers are the Korean People's Army's enemy."
"If the U.S. imperialists and their followers infringe on our sovereignty and dignity even slightly, we will blow up the stronghold of their aggression with a merciless and righteous retaliatory strike by mobilizing all physical means, including self-defensive nuclear deterrent force, and achieve the historic task of unification," Ri Yong Ho, chief of the General Staff of the North Korean army, said at the event.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported that the parade included three never-before-shown types of missiles and launching devices, including one thought to be a new "Musudan" intermediate-range ballistic missile with a range of 1,860 to 3,100 miles (3,000 to 5,000 kilometers), capable of hitting Japan and Guam.
South Korea's Defense Ministry said it could not immediately comment on the report, and a call to South Korea's top spy agency seeking comment went unanswered Sunday.
The parade, however, was probably less about showing off the country's military might than about introducing Kim Jong Un to the North Korean people and building his image as the next leader, according to Baek Seung-joo, a North Korea analyst at South Korea's Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.
"The parade served as a sign that the military has loyalty to the successor," said Kim Yong-hyun, an expert on North Korea at Seoul's Dongguk University.
If so, it was a heady debut for the mysterious young man who until two weeks ago was a virtual unknown outside North Korea's inner circle of military and political elite.
The question of who would lead the nuclear-armed nation of 24 million had arisen after Kim Jong Il reportedly suffered a stroke in 2008, and it was the leader third son, the Swiss-educated Kim Joing Un, who emerged as the heir apparent, despite his youth and inexperience.
In order to let the world see the man dubbed the "Young General," the regime allowed international journalists to capture the spectacle after more than two years of virtually closing its borders to foreign media. A select group of media outlets were given front-row seats at events where the Kims appeared.
The South Korean government believes the younger Kim to be 26, born on Jan. 8, 1984. On Sunday, he was poised in public, every inch his father's son in both looks and demeanor as he joined Kim Jong Il in raising a hand to salute the troops parading past.
Meanwhile, activists protested the succession plan along the southern side of the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas.
"North Koreans," read one banner, "wake up and resist the people's murderer Kim Jong Il's shameful three-generational hereditary succession of power."
Activists also sent some 20,000 leaflets packed with $1 bills and CDs carrying anti-Kim Jong Un rap songs floating across the border in hopes of reaching ordinary North Koreans, according to Park Sang-hak, a defector who now lives in Seoul.
___
Associated Press writers Kwang-tae Kim and Tomoko A. Hosaka in Seoul, South Korea, and Suhjung Kang in Paju, South Korea, contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101010/ap_on_re_as/as_nkorea_succession
