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Summary North Korea opened an international arts festival with a gala performance.
North Korea opened an international arts festival with a gala performance on Wednesday as its young leader Kim Jong-un was named party first secretary and the country prepared to go ahead with a rocket launch despite international condemnation.As well as featuring Korean dancers, the opening ceremony for the 28th April Spring Friendship Art Festival brought together performers from countries including Russia, China and Kazakhstan, just as the Norths neighbours and the west decried its plans to launch a rocket they say is a disguised ballistic missile test.At a rare conference on Wednesday, the countrys ruling Workers Party named young leader Kim Jong-un as first secretary, which appears to be a newly created post, the official KCNA news agency said.The same party conference also named Kims father, Kim Jong-il, who died in December, as its General Secretary for eternity.Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-uns grandfather and the nations founder who died in 1994, is president for eternity.The audience clapped when any one of the Kims appeared in a video overlaid with operatic music shown at the opening.
