“Nominally, it’s for the party, but really this congress is for Kim”, he added.
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Photo analysis shows the height of the Kim Il Sung statue (left) was around four times the height of the honor guard in the picture, while Kim Jong Il’s (right) was around 3.75 times taller.
With the latest available satellite imagery reportedly showing a quiet picture at the North’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site, an natural disaster is likely to be the first indication of a development.
But the defense minister said there isn’t sufficient evidence the North has successfully miniaturized nuclear weapons, and that there isn’t enough proof that the North’s fourth announced nuclear test in January was any more powerful than its third test conducted in 2013.
“The objective of all that was clear from the start”, said Victor Cha, Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Seoul had told press last week a mid-range North Korean missile, the Musudan, had failed during launch.
“North Korea is clearly lashing out in unsafe and provocative ways and every member of the Security Council…is concerned about this except evidently Russian Federation”, said a council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.
So, while the party congress does provide the platform for a genuine policy shift, it can just as easily become a stage for exhausted, self-congratulatory rhetoric that offers little in the way of change.
During the meeting, Kim is expected to mark his official coronation as leader.
Iran and North Korea have regular diplomatic and trade links, and in 2012 signed an agreement for the expansion of mutual cooperation in scientific, academic and technological fields.
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SEOUL-South Korea’s president said she sought Iran’s help to implement worldwide sanctions against North Korea as Seoul works to build pressure on its volatile neighbor amid concerns that Pyongyang will carry out another nuclear test.
