SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hosted a massive celebration to congratulate his nuclear scientists and technicians who steered the country’s sixth and largest nuclear test a week ago, its official news agency said on Sunday.
South Korea had been bracing for another long-range missile launch in time for the 69th anniversary of North Korea’s founding on Saturday, but no fresh provocations were spotted while the North held numerous events to mark the holiday.
Throughout last week, South Korean officials had warned the North could launch another intercontinental ballistic missile in defiance of UN sanctions and amid an escalating standoff with the United States.
Washington told the UN Security Council on Friday to call on a meeting on Monday to vote on a draft resolution establishing additional sanctions on North Korea for its missile and nuclear program.
To laud the nuclear scientists and other top military and party officials who contributed to the nuclear bomb test last Sunday, Kim threw a banquet, KCNA said, topped with an art performance and a photo session with the leader himself.
KCNA did not specify when the banquet had been held, but analysts said it had likely been on Saturday.
Photos released on Sunday by KCNA showed the young leader breaking into a broad smile at the People’s Theatre with two prominent scientists: Ri Hong Sop, head of North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons Institute, and Hong Sung Mu, deputy director of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea’s munitions industry department.
Ri and Hong have played vital roles in the North’s nuclear program, appearing at close distance to Kim during field inspections and weapons tests, including the latest nuclear test. Ri is a former director of Yongbyon Nuclear Research Center, North Korea’s main nuclear facility north of Pyongyang, where Hong also worked as a chief engineer.
North Korea had said the latest test was an advanced hydrogen bomb. There was no independent confirmation but some Western experts said there was enough strong evidence to suggest the reclusive state has either developed a hydrogen bomb or was getting very close.
KCNA said on Sunday the scientists and technicians “brought the great auspicious event of the national history, an extra-large event through the perfect success in the test of H-bomb.”
Kim praised the developers in his own remarks as “taking the lead” in attaining the “final goal of completing the state nuclear force” in line with his parallel pursuit of nuclear and economic development.
“The recent test of the H-bomb is the great victory won by the Korean people at the cost of their blood while tightening their belts in the arduous period,” Kim was quoted as saying.
Ri and Hong’s roles have also been noted overseas, prompting the United Nations, the United States or South Korea to blacklist them.
Aside from the elite, rank-and-file North Koreans also commemorated the anniversary on Saturday by visiting the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, which houses the embalmed bodies of founding father Kim Il Sung and his son and successor Kim Jong Il.
KCNA said servicepersons and civilians, including children, laid floral baskets and bouquets at the statues of the deceased leaders across the country, while enjoying art performances and dancing parties.
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un fetes nuclear scientists, holds celebration bash
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un fetes nuclear scientists, holds celebration bash
Farmers block Paris streets to protest planned free trade agreement with South American nations
- The protest piles yet more pressure on President Emmanuel Macron and his government, a day before EU member states are expected to vote on the trade accord
PARIS: French farmers blocked roads into Paris and landmarks such as the Arc de Triomphe on Thursday, in protest against a sweeping trade deal the EU is due to sign with South American nations.
Farmers from the right-wing Coordination Rurale union called for the protests in Paris amid fears the planned free trade agreement with the Mercosur bloc will flood the EU with cheap food imports.
They also protested high costs and excessive local regulations and demanded an end to a government policy of culling herds of cows in response to a highly contagious cattle disease, which they consider unwarranted.
“We are between resentment and despair. We have a feeling of abandonment, with Mercosur being an example,” Stephane Pelletier, a senior member of the Coordination Rurale union, told Reuters beneath the Eiffel Tower.
The farmers overran police checkpoints to enter the city, driving along the Champs Elysees avenue and blocking the road around the Arc de Triomphe before dawn, before gathering in front of the National Assembly.
National Assembly President Yael Braun-Pivet was booed and jostled when she stepped outside of the assembly’s gates to talk with the Coordination Rurale protesters.
Dozens of tractors obstructed highways leading into the capital ahead of the morning rush hour, including the A13 leading into Paris from the western suburbs and Normandy, causing 150 km of traffic jams, the transport minister said.
Farmers from the FNSEA and young farmers’ unions joined them later at the Eiffel Tower in a calm demonstration.
“We’re going to import products from the rest of the world that don’t meet our standards — that’s not possible, that’s unacceptable. So we’re staying mobilized, we’re carrying on,” Arnaud Rousseau, president of the FNSEA farm union, told reporters, referring to the Mercosur deal.
The protest piles yet more pressure on President Emmanuel Macron and his government, a day before EU member states are expected to vote on the trade accord. Without a majority in parliament, any policy misstep by Macron risks a perilous vote of no confidence in the chamber.
France has long been a stiff opponent of the trade deal.
Even though Paris has won significant last-minute concessions, the trade deal is a political hot potato for the government, with municipal elections in March and the far-right polling strongly ahead of the 2027 elections to replace Macron.
“This treaty is still not acceptable,” government spokesperson Maud Bregeon told France Info radio.
French Farm Minister Annie Genevard said on Wednesday that, even if EU members backed the accord, France would continue to fight against it in the European Parliament, whose approval will also be required for the agreement to enter into force.
This week, the European Commission proposed making €45 billion of EU funding available to farmers earlier in the bloc’s next seven-year budget and agreed to cut import duties on some fertilizers in a bid to win over countries wavering in their support for Mercosur.
The deal is backed by countries such as Germany and Spain, and the Commission appeared closer to winning Italy’s backing.
Rome’s support for the deal would mean the EU had the votes needed to approve the trade accord even without French support.
A vote on the accord is expected on Friday.
