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UN waits as N Korea celebrates

Tens of thousands joined in exuberant celebrations to mark the birthday of North Korea's founder at the weekend as the world's big powers fretted over Pyongyang's failure to meet a nuclear disarmament deadline.

The official KCNA news agency reported from Pyongyang that leader Kim Jong-il promoted 35 military officers to the rank of general on the birth anniversary of his late father, Kim Il-sung.

It made no mention of the deadline set under a multilateral agreement for Pyongyang to shut down its nuclear reactor, which came and went on Saturday with no signs it had been met.

The reclusive state has planned more than a month of festivities to mark the 95th anniversary of Kim Il-sung, who died in 1994 and was succeeded by his son, establishing the world's only communist dynasty.

Celebrations kicked off on Saturday night with "mass games," a multi-act extravaganza in the May Day stadium that was part gymnastic floor show, part military parade and part circus act involving about 100,000 people.

"The floor of the stadium turned into a veritable sea of flowers and dancers," KCNA said in a report early yesterday, the official "Day of the Sun" anniversary.

"The performance made a flawless ideological and artistic representation of the immortal revolutionary career of Kim Il-sung," it said.

Japan's Kyodo news agency reported from Pyongyang that the dancers and gymnasts performed against a mosaic backdrop of colored pictures held up by students.

Streets and buildings of the capital were decked with signs and decorations, it said, and women in colorful dress were seen practicing a dance routine in the Kim Il-sung square.

Kim Yong-nam omitted the customary diatribe against Washington in a report on progress towards the founder's "immortal" ideals, serving only a passing and vague warning that Pyongyang's military power should not be taken lightly.

Under a multilateral deal struck on Feb. 13, four months after the country's first nuclear test, North Korea agreed to shut down its Yongbyon nuclear plant within 60 days.

But that deadline was apparently missed on Saturday because of a stand-off over millions of dollars in North Korean accounts that were frozen at a Macau bank.

However, North Korea said on Friday it remained committed to the nuclear disarmament deal agreed by the two Koreas, the US, Japan, Russia and host China.

US chief negotiator Chris Hill said yesterday it was time for Pyongyang "to get moving," but the US and others in the long-running negotiations were prepared to be flexible.

"We have agreed that we need to give this process another few days," Hill told reporters in Beijing.

In return for shutting down its Yongbyon reactor and allowing UN inspections, North Korea was to have received 45,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil under an agreement with the US and four other governments to abandon its nuclear programs.

Washington, however, held back from criticizing Pyongyang for missing the 60-day deadline, but called on the North to show it remained committed to giving up its nuclear weapons.

"It remains for the DPRK to realize fully its commitments under the February 13 agreement by inviting back the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) immediately to begin shutting and sealing the Yongbyon nuclear facility," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, using the official name of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

North Korea kicked IAEA inspectors out and quit the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in December 2002.

"It is time now for the DPRK to make its move so that all of us can move forward," McCormack said.
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