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DPRK officials fete nuclear test

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-05-27 14:35

PYONGYANG -- Senior government officials of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Tuesday gathered for a mass celebration of its second nuclear test, the official Rodong Sinmun daily reported on Wednesday.

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"The nuclear test was a grand undertaking to protect the supreme interests of the DPRK and defend the dignity and sovereignty of the country and nation," Choe Thae Bok, secretary of the central committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, said in a speech delivered at the event.

The country was faced with "the US imperialists' unabated threat to mount a preemptive nuclear attack and sanctions," he said.

DPRK top legislator Kim Yong Nam and Kim Yong Chun, vice chairman of the National Defense Commission, were present at the meeting.

The DPRK said on Monday it successfully conducted "one more underground nuclear test" in clear violation of a UN resolution banning it from any nuclear test and missile launch.