SKorea: North's attack drill on presidential office off

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL

North Korea appears to have canceled its plan to carry out an artillery firing drill on a mock-up of Seoul's presidential office, according to a South Korean intelligence source Sunday.

A half-size replica of the building, known as the Blue House, was constructed close to the North's capital ahead of this month's party congress in Pyongyang.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff had revealed satellite imagery at the end of April showing the North's scaled-down model along with evidence of dozens of artillery pieces.

Seoul's defense ministry had also been anticipating a fifth ever nuclear test by the North in addition to other provocations -- the thinking was that dictator Kim Jong-un would want something tangible to celebrate at the Workers' Party congress, the first of its kind in nearly 40 years.

Having been hit with strengthened United Nations sanctions for its claimed hydrogen bomb test in January, North Korea's regime still put on a show of defiance as Kim hailed his country's nuclear development before party officials in Pyongyang.

With the North keeping the outside world guessing as to when it will conduct another test, or even a missile launch after a flurry of failed projectile exercises in April, it is not clear when or if the Blue House model will be fired upon.

"The North seems to be pulling out its troops and equipment from the firing range after the congress," an unnamed South Korean intelligence insider was quoted as saying by local news agency Yonhap on Sunday.

"We are trying to determine if the North has opted to cancel the attack or just postponed it."

The source added that the South "is keeping close track of Kim's moves and those of its armed forces."

North Korea's own state media reported Sunday that Kim had paid a visit to a tree nursery -- a far cry from the military trips he was making in the build-up to the congress.

While weeks of aggressive rhetoric out of Pyongyang faded this month, the North Korean leader's call during the congress for peaceful international talks was dismissed as insincere by South Korea and its ally the United States.

Seoul was surprised, however, when former North Korean Army chief Ri Yong-gil appeared on a list of political officials last week.

His return to public life might be seen as a blow to South Korean intelligence gathering, as Seoul claimed in February that Ri had been executed.