news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060729/ap_on_re_as/nkorea_mass_games
United Nations in New York, told The Associated Press by telephone that the event, which had been set for next month, "has been canceled due to flood damages." He didn't elaborate or say whether the spectacle would be rescheduled. Heavy mid-July rains killed at least 154 North Koreans and left at least 127 others missing, the United Nations said this week. North Korea's official media has said the disaster caused "hundreds" of casualties and that roads, bridges, railroads and communications had been cut off. The flooding has raised concern for the food supply of the impoverished nation, which is unable to sustain its population without outside help. The event, which takes place almost every year in the communist North, pays tribute to the legacy of the country's founding ruler, Kim Il Sung, in an attempt to bolster domestic support for the regime led by his son, Kim Jong Il. Citizens are transported from across the country to see it, and foreigners have been allowed in for rare visits. The event had been scheduled to run for two months starting in mid-August.
Madeleine Albright visited a mass game in Pyongyang in 2000, where a mosaic displayed an animated missile flying into the sky. "This will be our last missile," Kim Jong Il reportedly told Albright. The North this month test-fired seven missiles -- including a new model believed capable of reaching the US that failed shortly after takeoff -- in violation of a self-imposed moratorium on long-range launches.
North Korea has canceled a mass propaganda spectacle that features thousands of synchronized performers due to floods that devastated the country earlier this month, a North Korean diplomat said Saturday, July 29, 2006.
The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
|