North Korea said yesterday it would hold an annual parliamentary session next month around the time of a planned rocket launch by the nuclear-armed state that has sparked widespread condemnation.
The meeting of the rubber-stamp body will also take place just two days before deceased founder Kim Il-sung’s 100th birthday and will be the first under new leader Kim Jong-un.
Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) would convene on April 13.
The assembly is constitutionally able to appoint the chairman of the National Defense Commission (NDC), a top military decisionmaking body wielding great influence over the highly militarized communist state.
The parliament will likely promote Kim Jong-un, currently vice chairman of the commission, to the NDC’s highest post, which was held by his father, Kim Jong-il, who died in December from a heart attack, analysts said.
Separately, the North’s ruling Communist Party said last month it would convene a rare special conference next month on an unspecified date in an apparent attempt to wrap up the power transfer to the new leader.
The party meeting is likely to appoint Kim Jong-un to his father’s old posts of party general secretary and chief of its Central Military Commission, analysts said.
Kim Jong-un has been proclaimed the “great successor,” but has so far been formally appointed to only one of Kim Jong-il’s posts, commander-in-chief of the 1.2 million-strong military.
North Korea announced earlier this month it would launch a rocket between April 12 and April 16 to put a satellite into orbit to celebrate the centenary of Kim Il-sung’s birth.
The move has been condemned by the US, South Korea and other nations as a pretext for a long-range missile test banned by the UN. It has also jeopardized a deal with the US announced last month on suspending uranium enrichment and long-range missile tests in return for food aid.
A senior US official warned that the rocket launch would be aimed south for the first time and impact in an area “roughly between Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines.”
US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell delivered the message in person to Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Bob Carr, the Sydney Morning Herald reported yesterday.
“We have never seen this trajectory before,” he was quoted as saying.
On Friday, the North said preparations “have entered a full-fledged stage of action” and promised unspecified “counter-measures” against opponents of the operation.
It came shortly after Tokyo said it was preparing missile defenses to shoot down the rocket if it threatened Japan. North Korea’s main ally, China, called for all sides to “keep calm and exercise restraint.”
World leaders including US President Barack Obama are meeting in Seoul from tomorrow for a summit officially focused on nuclear terrorism.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon plans to raise the rocket launch on the sidelines of the meeting tomorrow and on Tuesday.
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