N. Korea keeps world on edge over missile launch

SOUTH KOREA: North Korea kept the world on edge Thursday over an expected missile launch while turning its own energies to celebrating leaders past and present amid soaring tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The United States warned North Korea it was skating a “dangerous line” as South Korea remained on heightened alert for any missile test, that could start a whole new cycle of tensions in a region already on a hair-trigger.

The North's state media focused its attention, however, on Thursday's first anniversary of new leader Kim Jong-Un becoming head of the ruling Worker's Party and next Monday's birthday celebrations for late founder Kim Il-Sung.

The official party mouthpiece Rodong Sinmun praised Kim Jong-Un as the “No. 1 man of conviction and will” and credited him with the success of the North's long range-rocket launch in December and February's nuclear test. “History has never seen any socialist leader like him,” the newspaper said.

The launch and test, along with the UN sanctions imposed for each, are at the core of the current crisis that has seen Pyongyang threaten nuclear strikes against the United States and its allies. South Korean intelligence says the North has prepared two mid-range missiles for imminent launch from its east coast, despite warnings from ally China to avoid provocative moves at a time of soaring military tensions.

AFP