A `musical satellite' beams down for our Dear Leader

IN THE latest bizarre twist to an already strange chain of events, North Korean claimed yesterday that the object fired from its shores over the Japanese coast this week was not a ballistic missile but a musical satellite that is beaming down patriotic jingles in praise of the country's reclusive leader.

North Korea provoked outrage on Monday after American spy satellites tracked what they said was the test launch of a new type of long-range ballistic missile. The two-stage missile landed in the Pacific Ocean after flying over northern Japan, to the consternation of the Tokyo government and the embarrassment of its military.

In its first direct comment on the matter, North Korea's state-run news agency put the record straight yesterday: despite a collapsing economy, fuel shortages and a famine, the isolated Stalinist state claims to have succeeded in putting a satellite into orbit, days before the election as president of its acting leader, Kim Jong Il.

Such claims will certainly be met with scepticism overseas, but the report by the Korean Central News Agency was not lacking in detail.

"Our scientists and technicians have succeeded in launching the first artificial satellite aboard a multi-stage rocket into orbit," the agency said in a radio broadcast monitored in Tokyo. The satellite was said to have gone into orbit just after noon on Monday - exactly the same time that the American military reported the firing of the Taepo Dong missile.

"Some people suspected it to be a ballistic missile launching test, expressed some apprehensions and described it as a serious event," the report noted, with barely concealed amusement. "They are making a fuss, ignorant of this valuable success of science and technology which will add to the common treasure house of humanity. It will contribute to promoting scientific research for peaceful use in outer space"

The agency added, somewhat ominously that "whether this capacity will be used for a military purpose or not, entirely depends on the attitude of forces hostile to us".

But the real and most original purpose of the alleged sputnik appeared to be more festive. According to the report, "the satellite is now transmitting the melody of the immortal revolutionary hymns, `The Song of General Kim Il Sung' and `The Song of General Marshal Kim Jong Il', and the words `Self Reliance Korea' in morse code."

North Korea's Supreme Assembly gathers in the capital, Pyongyang, today for a meeting at which Kim Jong Il is expected to be elected president. Four years after the death of Kim Il Sung, he will be the world's first Communist leader to succeed his father.

Cynics overseas will regard yesterday's report as a crude attempt to boost morale in a country close to collapse. Kim Jong Il inherits the last Stalinist dictatorship in the world in which industrial and agricultural production have slowed virtually to a standstill.

After Monday's incident, Japan said it would not send any more food aid to North Korea, where up to 3 million people are believed to have died of starvation. Whether many of the survivors will be cheered by tales of the juke-box in space is doubtful.