N. Korean leader watches opera amid tensions

(ATTN: MODIFIES 3rd para on N.K.'s uranium announcement)
SEOUL, June 15 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il watched an opera with
his only sister and senior Workers' Party officials, state media said Monday,
continuing his routine activities amid sharpening confrontation with the United
States.

Kim's outing comes a day after his reported visit to a frontline unit of the 7th
Infantry Division. Kim has in the past visited frontline infantry troops when
tensions with the U.S. were high, the most recent trip having come in November
2005, after Washington froze North Korean funds at Macau-based Banco Delta Asia
as part of financial sanctions for Pyongyang's alleged money laundering.
Protesting a recent U.N. Security Council resolution condemning its May 25
nuclear test, the North said it will "weaponize" all plutonium it has and start
enriching uranium to provide nuclear fuel, which outsiders suspect may actually
be used to build nuclear weapons.
Kim watched the opera "The Dream of the Red Chamber" at the Hamhung Grand Theater
staged by the Phibada (Sea of Blood) Opera Troupe, the North's official Korean
Central News Agency said. The opera, a remake of the Chinese classic of the same
title, was staged to mark the "year of DPRK-China friendship," the report said.
The opera troupe "fully demonstrated once again its capability as an able and
prestigious art troupe," Kim was quoted as saying.
"It is something to be highly proud of that students of a university or newcomers
from it, in particular, have successfully played their main or minor parts of the
opera," he noted.
Kim was accompanied by his only sister and Workers' Party department director Kim
Kyong-hui, and other party officials and military generals. The sister's
increasing appearances from this month has raised speculation that she may be
playing a role in an alleged ongoing transfer of power in the country. Her
husband, Jang Song-thaek, is believed to be acting as a regent for the leader's
third and youngest son, Jong-un, reportedly tapped as Kim's successor.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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