European ambassadors boycott Pyongyang events after rocket launch+

BEIJING, April 22 (AP) - (Kyodo)—European ambassadors to Pyongyang stayed away from last week's commemoration of the anniversary of the late North Korean founder's birthday to protest the country's recent rocket launch, diplomatic sources said Wednesday. The ambassadors from most of the seven European Union countries that have embassies in Pyongyang skipped events, including a ceremony at Kim Il Sung's mausoleum and a weeklong song and dance performance, held to mark his April 15 birthday, the sources said. GA_googleFillSlot("news_story_instory"); The European Union countries with embassies in North Korea are Britain, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Romania and Sweden. When European Union ambassadors staged a similar boycott after North Korea test-fired missiles in July 2006, Pyongyang retaliated by cutting off contact with the European diplomatic community for weeks. The latest action by the European diplomats came after North Korea launched a rocket April 5 and said it put a satellite into orbit. Countries including Japan, South Korea and the United States see the rocket launch as a disguised test of Pyongyang's missile technology, and the U.N. Security Council issued a statement last week condemning it. The 27-member EU has also criticized the North Korean action, saying in a statement it places additional strains on regional stability. In retaliation for the U.N. criticism, North Korea expelled U.S. nuclear experts and inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency who had been at its main nuclear complex. Pyongyang also said it was pulling out of the six-way denuclearization talks. A series of commemoratory events are held every year to mark April 15, one of the biggest holidays in North Korea known as the Day of the Sun. According to North Korea's state-run media, senior officials of the North Korean government and the ruling Workers' Party of Korea paid homage to Kim Il Sung on that day at Kumsusan Memorial Palace, where his embalmed body lies.

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