Kim will follow his father’s steps: envoy

ANKARA

Dancers perform under the portraits of North Korea founder Kim Il-sung (L) and the late leader Kim Jong-il to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Kim Il-sung. REUTERS photo

A recent speech by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, suggesting that Pyongyang would not be bullied by its nuclear-armed enemies, indicates the threat he poses to world peace, a South Korean diplomat has said.

“The contents of his speech showed that he will continue his father’s [Kim Jong-il] policies, although his style was much different, imitating his grandfather, Kim Il-sung,” said the South Korean diplomat. “The dangerous elements were there.”

Kim Jong-un made his speech, his first public address since taking over from his father late last year, at a military parade on April 15. Dressed in a dark Mao suit and standing on a podium high above Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang, the new leader said, “The days of enemies threatening and blackmailing us with nuclear weapons are forever over.” His speech came after North Korea failed to launch a space satellite, which it said was aimed at broadcasting. The West believes that it was actually a long-range ballistic missile. The diplomat said Kim’s leadership was unfortunate for the North. “We share the same language, the same culture with them. And this [28-year-old] man keeps them the most backward country in the world. It’s said to see this.” Touching on North Korea’s recent move to launch a rocket, the diplomat said: “It cost North Korea $850 million, an amount sufficient to feed the country’s starved citizens for about a year. At the same time, they beg the world for food.”

In a defiant statement late April 17, the North broke off a bilateral agreement to halt testing of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles after Washington suspended much-needed food aid. “We have thus become able to take necessary retaliatory measures, free from the agreement. The U.S. will be held wholly accountable for all the ensuing consequences,” Agence France-Presse quoted the North Korean Foreign Ministry as saying. Communist North Korea is one of the world’s poorest and most isolated countries, but it is still a nuclear power. Last year, a North Korean team sought to secure food from many countries, including Turkey.