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North Korean media play down
nuclear test
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SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Thursday, October 19, 2006
North Korea’s official newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, reported the Oct. 9 nuclear test on page 3, not page 1, clearly indicating an effort to play down the historic explosion.
The Minju Choson, the newspaper of the North Korean cabinet, ran the story on page 1, but at the bottom of the page.
Other newspapers played the story without calling great attention to the event.
The Korean communist leaders intended the muted coverage to avoid triggering popular anxiety and social turmoil, according to specialists on North Korea.
North Korea's president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly Kim Yong-nam, second right, after speaking in Pyongyang on Oct. 11.
Kyodo/Reuters
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The initial statement on the test also noted that there was no danger of radiation from the blast near Kilchu, in northeastern North Korea.
Kim Yong-Nam, head of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, issued the first official statements since the nuclear test.
"The issue of future nuclear tests is linked to U.S. policy toward our country," Kim said in a meeting at Pyongyang's Mansudae Assembly Hall.
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