North Korea unveils statue of Kim Jong-il

North Korea has unveiled a statue of leader Kim Jong-il, probably the first in the communist country. "It is our highest privilege and good fortune to be able to unveil a bronze statue of our comrade commander for the first time in our country," Gen. Kim Jong-gak, a vice director of the People's Army's General Political Bureau, was quoted as saying by an army newsletter that also carried a picture of the statue.

The streets of Pyongyang are riddled with statues of former leader Kim Il-sung, but this is the first representing Kim Jong-il.

"There have been instances when loyal officials insisted on erecting a statue of Kim Jong-il, but Kim always declined," a senior defector who escaped from the North last year said. "He also initially rejected a proposal back in the 1980s to hang portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il side by side, which led to confusion among the public over which picture to hang on their walls.

A South Korean intelligence official said. "The emergence of statues of a leader signifies the end of his reign." Statues of Kim Il-sung began to appear at the end of his reign and the start of Kim Jong-il's leadership.

The bronze statue may be a project by his son Jong-un, who is widely expected to inherit the North Korean throne.

[Chosun Ilbo]

North Korea hails its era of prosperity

North Korea hailed an era of “great prosperity” brought by its founding family as the communist state celebrated its 61st anniversary amid an international nuclear standoff.

The ruling party daily Rodong Sinmun said late founding father Kim Il-Sung built a “socialist power, independent in politics, self-supporting in economy and self-reliant in national defence.”

His son and successor Kim Jong-Il made the North “powerful and prosperous” through Songun (military-first) leadership, it said. “The DPRK (North Korea) has greeted a shining era of the greatest prosperity in the nation’s history... under the Songun revolutionary leadership,” it said.

The upbeat official assessment came as the impoverished country faces tougher UN sanctions following a long-range missile test in April and a nuclear test in May.

A third of North Korean women and young children are malnourished and the country will run short of almost 1.8 million tonnes of food this year, according to a recent World Food Programme report.