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Secure despite rocket fiasco, N.Korea's Kim lauds military
Source: Reuters
Secure despite rocket fiasco, N.Korea's Kim lauds military
By Maxim Duncan
PYONGYANG | Sun Apr 15, 2012 6:26am EDT
(Reuters) - North Korea's new leader delivered his first major public speech on Sunday as the impoverished state celebrated the centenary of its founder's birth, calling for a push to "final victory" despite a failed rocket launch two days earlier.
A jowly Kim Jong-un, clad in black and the third of his line to rule North Korea, read monotonously from a script in Pyongyang's central square after goose-stepping soldiers and sailors showcased the North's military power in a parade in spring sunshine.
Smiling and joking with generals on a podium after the speech, Kim watched as the country's missiles paraded past, a reminder that despite Friday's embarrassing failure to successfully launch a rocket, North Korea packs a punch.
In a move that indicated Kim would stick to the "military-first" policies that have put North Korea on the verge of nuclear-weapons capacity, he lauded respectively his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, and his father, Kim Jong-il, as the "founder and the builder of our revolutionary armed forces".
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By Maxim Duncan
PYONGYANG | Sun Apr 15, 2012 6:26am EDT
(Reuters) - North Korea's new leader delivered his first major public speech on Sunday as the impoverished state celebrated the centenary of its founder's birth, calling for a push to "final victory" despite a failed rocket launch two days earlier.
A jowly Kim Jong-un, clad in black and the third of his line to rule North Korea, read monotonously from a script in Pyongyang's central square after goose-stepping soldiers and sailors showcased the North's military power in a parade in spring sunshine.
Smiling and joking with generals on a podium after the speech, Kim watched as the country's missiles paraded past, a reminder that despite Friday's embarrassing failure to successfully launch a rocket, North Korea packs a punch.
In a move that indicated Kim would stick to the "military-first" policies that have put North Korea on the verge of nuclear-weapons capacity, he lauded respectively his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, and his father, Kim Jong-il, as the "founder and the builder of our revolutionary armed forces".
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/15/us-korea-north-idUSBRE83D0EG20120415