Report: NKorea conducts celebration rehearsal for party conference amid power succession moves

Report: NKorea ready for major party conference

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea staged a massive celebration rehearsal for its biggest political conference in 30 years, a news report said, amid predictions that leader Kim Jong Il would use the meeting to give a key ruling party position to one of his sons.

North Korea has said it will hold a rare Workers’ Party conference early this month to elect new party leaders, sparking speculation that the event would be linked to Kim’s moves to groom his third and youngest son — Kim Jong Un — as his successor. No exact date for the meeting has been provided.

On Sunday, several thousand people carrying colorful plastic flowers gathered in Pyongyang’s main Kim Il Sung square to rehearse a celebration for the party meeting, China’s official Xinhau News Agency reported from Pyongyang. Some children also rehearsed at a scenic spot at Pyongyang’s Taedong River, the report said.

The rehearsal ended early due to rain, Xinhua said. One Xinhua photo showed a crowd of people packing a Pyongyang street and waving red and pink plastic flowers, while another photo showed people putting up umbrellas and heading home afterward.

The Workers’ Party meeting is its first major gathering since its landmark 1980 congress where Kim Jong Il was confirmed as North Korea’s next leader. He eventually took over power in 1994 when his father Kim Il Sung died of heart failure in communism’s first hereditary transfer of power.

North Korea watchers predicted Kim Jong Il would give his youngest son a key Workers’ Party job during this month’s conference to help bolster his position as his successor.

Pyongyang’s state media have reported that the country’s major provinces and cities have completed electing delegates to take part in the meeting but it remains unclear when it will take place.

South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported Monday that the meeting will start Tuesday or Wednesday, citing an unidentified source privy to North Korea affairs. North Korea monitoring groups are split over the starting date, with some saying it already began Saturday with the registration of participants while others say it will be held from Thursday to Friday.