By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
Pyongyang plans to convene its Assembly on April 9, right after a scheduled rocket launch, North Korean media reported Friday.
The plan is seemingly aimed at publicizing the launch at home and abroad to garner maximum political and military gains, experts on inter-Korean affairs said.
``The First Session of the 12th Supreme People's Assembly will be convened in Pyongyang on April 9,'' the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, adding the decision was made March 16.
North Korea told international organizations in charge of aviation last Thursday that it will launch a Kwangmyongsong-2 satellite into orbit between April 4 and 8 as part of its national space program.
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said the rocket launch is like a ``firework'' to celebrate the beginning of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's third-term of power.
``My understanding is that the launch is to mark Kim's reappointment and strengthen national pride,'' he told The Korea Times.
Reports said that North Korean legislators will likely reappoint ``Dear Leader'' Kim as chairman of the National Defense Commission, the state's decision-making body that controls its military.
Discussions on a Cabinet reshuffle and government budget are also likely to be held, they added.
``Considering that a satellite and a missile have the same launch pad, I cannot rule out that the North aims at pressuring the United States in a bid to get what it wants,'' the professor said.
The secretive state elected 687 Assembly members early this month with a minor change in that some economic technocrats were promoted to the legislature.
Among the lawmakers, 46 percent were new faces. The North's ``Dear Leader'' Kim's three sons, including Jong-un who has been rumored to be his heir, were not elected.
A similar incident took place in 1998 when Pyongyang launched the Kwangmyongsong-1 satellite which the outside world considered a ``Taepodong-1'' multi-stage missile with an estimated range of about 2,000 to 2,500 kilometers. It was fired over Japan.
The communist state held the first meeting of the 10th Supreme People's Assembly Sept. 4, five days after the launch, and appointed Kim a day later as the defense commission chairman.
Amid mounting speculation that the North is likely to launch a rocket as announced, Chinese and Japanese top negotiators to the six-party denuclearization talks agreed to have a meeting Sunday.
Japan's chief envoy Akitaka Saiki will meet his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei in Beijing to discuss pending issues including countermeasures against the impending launch.