Gala marks North Korean anniversary

Instead of missile test, Kim honors scientists, the builders of nuclear arsenal

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea marked its government's 69th anniversary not with another missile test, as many had feared, but with a gala party for the scientists involved in carrying out the country's most powerful nuclear test yet last week, the state-run news media reported Sunday.

The country's leader, Kim Jong Un, celebrated the national holiday Saturday by bringing his nuclear scientists and engineers to Pyongyang, the capital, and holding a banquet.

On their way from the country's underground nuclear test site in northeast North Korea to Pyongyang, the technicians had been cheered by people who poured out to see them passing by, the country's official Korean Central News Agency reported. And upon their arrival in the city on Wednesday, they were met with a hero's welcome, including a huge outdoor rally and fireworks.

North Korea described the test, on Sept. 3, as the detonation of a hydrogen bomb that could be delivered on a missile. Kim's government called it "a merciless sledgehammer blow to the U.S. imperialists."

Outside officials and analysts had feared that the country would commemorate the birthday of its government on Saturday by conducting another weapons test, possibly launching another intercontinental ballistic missile.

South Korean officials predicted that such a missile test was almost certain to happen soon, particularly given the tougher sanctions being considered by the U.N. Security Council. On Friday, Washington called for the council to vote on a draft resolution today that would impose new sanctions on North Korea for its latest nuclear test.

The U.S. resolution would, aside from barring crude oil shipments to North Korea, ban the nation's exports of textiles and prohibit employment of its guest workers by other countries, according to a diplomat at the world body. The proposal also calls for freezing Kim's assets.

Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera on Sunday urged tougher sanctions including curbing oil supplies to North Korea. He warned that the regime's advances in missile technology are complicating Japan's ability to intercept them.

"Japan's security environment including North Korea is increasingly grave -- perhaps it's the most serious state in the post-war period," Onodera told public broadcaster NHK. "If North Korea-bound oil, mainly coming from China, decreases through pressure by the international community, it will be difficult for North Korea to operate its missile brigades."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is pointing to the negotiations that led to Iran curtailing its nuclear program as a possible model for tackling the North Korea crisis.

Merkel stressed in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper published Sunday that a diplomatic solution is the only viable way to resolve the crisis. She added, "If our participation in talks is wanted, I will say yes immediately."

During the banquet on Saturday, Kim spurred his engineers to make "redoubled efforts, not slackening the spirit displayed by them in bringing the great auspicious event of the national history," the North Korean news agency said.

In its report on the banquet, the state news agency mentioned the names of two senior party officials, Ri Man Gon and Hong Sung Mu. Ri is North Korea's minister of defense industries, and Hong is his deputy. As such, they are in charge of the country's nuclear weapons development.

Hong accompanied Kim, the leader, during his recent visit to his country's Nuclear Weapons Institute, where the head of the institute, Ri Hong Sop, briefed Kim about what was called a hydrogen bomb. Hours after the photo of the three men together was carried in the North Korean media last week, the country conducted its nuclear test.

Later, the North Korean media carried a photo of Hong and Ri Hong Sop in military uniforms bearing a four-star and a three-star insignia, respectively, and receiving flowers during a ceremony.

All three men, Ri Man Gon, Hong Sung Mu and Ri Hong Sop, have been placed on U.N. sanctions lists.

Information for this article was contributed by Choe Sang-hun of The New York Times; Peter Pae, Linly Lin, Shin Shoji, Kanga Kong, Kambiz Foroohar, Nick Wadhams, Kim Chipman, Ben Livesey, Keiko Ujikane, Jennifer Epstein, Sohee Kim, Margaret Talev, David Tweed and Helen Sun of Bloomberg News; and staff members of The Associated Press.

A Section on 09/11/2017

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