Current News Articles
(Note: Here we collect the articles which give us a thinking. We hope you should also read them and think over as we do. However, the views expressed in the articles are not necessarily the same as ours.)
KCNA Denounces US-S. Korea Military Exercises
Pyongyang, March 2 (KCNA) -- The United States is going to stage together with the puppet army of south Korea large-scale joint military exercises codenamed Key Resolve and Foal Eagle from March 8.
They describe the exercises as "annual ones" and "defensive" in a bid to cover up the dangerous and grave nature of the war maneuvers but this is nothing but sheer sophism which can convince no one.
The projected joint military exercises are nuclear war exercises aimed at mounting a preemptive attack on the DPRK to all intents and purposes.
The military doctrine of the U.S. is one of war calling for a preemptive attack and the U.S. and south Korean puppet armed forces' scenario for a war against the DPRK is a scenario for a nuclear war based on the provision of "extended deterrent".
All their military exercises are pursuant to the above-said war doctrine and scenario.
As a matter of fact, the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle have so far been staged according to the "OPLAN 5027", a scenario for an all-out war to occupy the DPRK by a preemptive attack. Last year the U.S. and the south Korean authorities worked out even a document on the provision of the "extended deterrent" presupposing the use of nukes against the DPRK in contingency.
They do not conceal the fact that "equipment, capability and manpower" will be mobilized in the said joint military exercises to the fullest extent. This, needless to say, means the involvement of even the nuclear war forces in the war maneuvers.
What merits a more serious attention is that the U.S. is set to stage such nuclear war exercises at a time when the international community is growing more vocal than ever before calling for a settlement of the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula.
Obviously this is a deliberate attempt to disturb peace on the peninsula and torpedo the process for its denuclearization.
The U.S. has always stood in the way of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, pursuing only a war to stifle the DPRK, not seeking a solution to the issue on the basis of respect for sovereignty in relations with the latter.
It is open secret that the U.S. administration ruled by the Democratic Party attempted to provoke a war against the DPRK behind the curtain of denuclearization in the 1990s.
The U.S. is still increasing the nuclear threat through such nuclear war exercises as Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, driving the process for the denuclearization of the peninsula to a collapse.
The reality goes to prove that how urgent and crucial the conclusion of a peace treaty and the termination of the hostile relations are for finding a solution to the nuclear issue on the peninsula and how just the DPRK was when it took measures to have access to nuclear deterrent to cope with U.S. constant military threat.
The process for the denuclearization of the peninsula can never take even a step forward as long as the DPRK and the U.S. remain technically at a war and the latter's threat of a nuclear war against the DPRK remains.
Should the U.S. persist in its unrealistic moves to stifle the DPRK in disregard of its realistic proposal, this will only compel it to boost its nuclear deterrent and its delivery means.
DPRK Proposes Talks on Resumption of Tour
Pyongyang, January 14 (KCNA) -- The Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee Thursday sent a notice to the "Ministry of Unification" of south Korea requesting it to hold a north-south working contact for the resumption of tour of Mt. Kumgang and the area of Kaesong.
It is very regrettable that tour of Mt. Kumgang and the area of Kaesong has been suspended for one and a half years, the notice said, proposing holding the north-south working contact for the resumption of tour at Mt. Kumgang Resort on Jan. 26 and 27.
DPRK Slams UN "Human Rights Resolution"
Pyongyang, November 20 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry Friday gave the following answer to the question put by KCNA as regards the "resolution on human rights situation" against the DPRK adopted at a meeting of the Third Committee of the 64th UN General Assembly:
The adoption of the said resolution is nothing but a trite political plot hatched by hostile forces against the DPRK every year.
It should never be overlooked that the U.S., playing a main role, instigated the EU, Japan and its other followers to fake up again a brigandish document defiling the system in the DPRK and infringing upon its sovereignty on the basis of all sorts of lies and fabrications.
The illegal and highhanded nature of the hostile action lies in that the "resolution" was railroaded through the meeting of the above-said committee despite the fact that a universal periodic review on the human rights situation in the DPRK is slated to be made at the UN Human Rights Council in coming December and majority member nations of the UN including the non-aligned countries are strongly opposed to the adoption of a country-specific resolution.
One should keep one's hands clean before pointing accusing fingers to others.
The U.S. is committing every day such human rights abuses as invading sovereign states under the pretext of "a war on terrorism" and brutally killing innocent civilians and other Western countries are plagued with all sorts of human rights abuses and social evils such as maltreatment of minorities and natives, racial discrimination, murder and prostitution. Are they entitled to dare take issue with other countries' human rights performance so shamelessly?
Japan has not yet redeemed hideous human rights abuses it perpetrated in Korea last century such as the massacre of more than a million Koreans, the forcible drafting of at least 8.4 million Korean workers and the act of forcing 200,000 Korean women into sexual slavery for the Imperial Japanese Army. No matter how vociferous it wants to become it has no right whatsoever to say anything about human rights.
The DPRK categorically and totally rejects as it did in the past any "resolution" fabricated by the U.S. and its followers to do harm to the ideology and system in the DPRK chosen by its people as part of their interference in its internal affairs under the pretext of "championing human rights."
Human rights mean sovereign rights and the latter keeps every nation alive.
One cannot think of enjoying genuine human rights and their protection without being provided with a guarantee for national sovereignty. This is the truth proven by the present reality of international relations.
The UN Charter recognizes the right to self-determination, the right of choice and the principle of non-interference in other's internal affairs.
No country in the world has the right to force its own socio-political system upon other country and it can never do so.
Successful Conclusion of This Year's Campaign for Great Surge Called for
Pyongyang, September 23 (KCNA) -- All the party members and other working people are called upon to continue giving spurs to the on-going general advance with the same vim and vigor with which they emerged victors in the 150-day campaign, single-mindedly united around General Secretary Kim Jong Il, and thus strikingly demonstrate once again the revolutionary spirit of heroic Korea dynamically advancing toward the eminence of a great prosperous and powerful nation with the speed of Songun Chollima. This appeal is made by leading newspapers Wednesday in editorials.
Rodong Sinmun notes that the shining victory won in the 150-day campaign helped the DPRK take a fresh giant stride forward in building a thriving nation and opened up a brighter prospect before the nation.
It goes on:¡¡During the 150-day campaign the Korean people fully displayed boundless loyalty in thoroughly carrying out the leader's idea and intention and the party's line and policies with one and the same thought and purpose and such inexhaustible mental power as implementing them in a do-or-die spirit. This period witnessed heroic struggles through which they fully displayed the invincible stamina of Songun Korea by turning impossibility into possibility and bringing about epoch-making changes.
The 150-day campaign clearly testified to the fact that the party's intention and determination were entirely just and only victory and glory are in store for the Korean people making a steady advance while struggling with the above-said mental power.
The shining victory won in the 150-day campaign is a precious fruition of the energetic and tested guidance of Kim Jong Il.
It is the traditional revolutionary mode and fighting spirit of the Korean people to effect uninterrupted innovations and make steady progress for greater victory, not remaining complacent with the achievements already made.
The Workers' Party of Korea is calling on all the people to wage a 100-day campaign.
All the party members and other working people should make greater leaping advances on all fronts with confidence and optimism about sure victory and thus provide without fail this year a sure guarantee for the final victory in the drive for building a thriving nation.
They are sure to win in the 100-day campaign as long as there are the tested and experienced leadership of the great party, matchless military capability, the unbreakable single-minded unity, the foundation of the powerful self-supporting national economy and a large contingent of those strong in thinking and mental power.
Minju Joson calls upon all the officials and working people to dynamically conduct the 100-day campaign confident of victory and thus glorify this year as a year of great changes and a year of historic leaping advances without fail, the year which will witness a landmark turn in building a thriving nation.
North Korea Wants Peace, not War by Herald Hakwon Sunoo, Phd.
Chairman Kim Jong-Il of North Korea expects to be secured in power the next few decades. Whether one likes it or not, Kim is firmly entrenched and here to stay. His economy is not doing as well as he desires, but it is in no danger of collapsing as some outsiders speculate. He faces no organized internal opposition and is unlikely to face any in the foreseeable future. His security forces are massive, effective and unconditionally loyal to him.
What chance is there then to reconcile between South and North Korea? Is he the same revolutionary as his father, Kim Il-Sung, five decades ago? The answer is clearly no. Kim Il-Sung advocated armed revolution and vowed to help any revolutionary activities in South Korea until the end of 1960`s, but today such a policy toward South Korea has been completely reversed with the declaration of the July 4th North-South Joint Communique in 1972.
Kim Jong-Il has established normal relations with more than 100 non-communist countries including 13 out of 15 belonging to the European Union; He wants to normalize North Korea`s relationship with the United States.
Unfortunately, the U.S. government has ignored North Korea until the last year of former President Bill Clinton`s administration. The Bush administration maintained that nothing has changed in North Korea. Such inflexibililty makes no sense in view of the changing situation in Korea.
Late President Kim Il-Sung proposed a reduction of armed forces on July 23, 1987, in an effort to open up a decisive phase in easing the tension on the Korean Peninsula. He declared that they would reduce 100,000 soldiers by the end of 1987 "to open up a practical breakthrough for the military cut down on the Korean Peninsula."
He also proposed to hold a multinational disarmament negotiation in Geneva in March 1988 with the participation of the both Koreas and the United States to discuss the practical aspects of the serious issues. The statement said that the U.S. should withdraw all its forces, including nuclear weapons and dismantle its military bases in South Korea "when the military forces of the north and south are reduced to 100,000."
To confirm the military cut down in the north and south and the withdrawal of U. S. troops, it called for phased inspection by a neutral nation. If North Korea is willing to discuss a peaceful settlement in Korea and reduction of her troops, how does it serve the interests and objectives of the United States to refuse? Yet the U.S. refuses, for reasons that have not clearly been explained to the public.
The United States policy toward North Korea could be more rational, productive and peaceful rather than emotional and destructive as the situation exists today. Chairman Kim is willing and anxious to deal with South Korea and the U.S. as shown during the Clinton administration and the meeting with Kim Dae Jung of South Korea in Pyongyang in 1990.
Agreeing to terms on the issues would not be easy, but the differences are by no means insurmountable. Any policy would be better than America`s current policy which is archaic, sterile and fails to produce any peaceful results in northeast Asia.
The ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People`s Republic of Korea declared often a nuclear-free peace zone on the Korean Peninsula. The government suggested that the U.S. government should take practical steps to commit themselves to stop the introduction of new nuclear weapons and means of their delivery into South Korea.
The North Korea regime expressed hope that all countries will take effective steps to ensure and guarantee the nuclear-free peace portion of the Korean peninsula in order to prevent the conversion of the peninsula into nuclear war site and embroilment of Asia and rest of the world in a nuclear holocaust. The American government must implement the 1994 Geneva Agreed Framework between the U.S. and North Korea. The agreement includes that the U.S. will not use violent forces against North Korea, will support the unification of North and South Korea, and build two light water reactor power plants for peace purposes.
Instead, the new Obama administration -which is reaching out to the Muslim world and elsewhere with peace-loving intentions-is pursuing a dangerous course of war no different than his predecessor in Korea. Peace-loving Americans ought to stop such war oriented policies and establish peace in Korea, the last remaining divided nation on earth.
The author is distinguished professor emeritus of Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri. He has published 25 Books that have been published in English, French, Japanese and Korean. [News Source : minjok.com 2009-08-06]
All Koreans Called upon to Open Decisive Phase for National Reunification
Pyongyang, June 15 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the North Side Committee for Implementing the June 15 Joint Declaration released a statement on Monday, nine years after its publication.
Referring to the fact that the joint declaration adopted in the historic north-south summit meeting on June 15, 2000, is a milestone of national reunification, the statement said that it serves as an immortal banner as it dynamically arouses all the Koreans to the efforts for carving out the destiny of the nation and realizing the cause of reunification.
Thanks to the adoption of the June 15 joint declaration the inter-Korean relations characterized by distrust and confrontation, which had persisted for more than half a century, have turned into those of reconciliation, unity and cooperation and a new era of "By our nation itself" and a fresh history of independent reunification were ushered in this land, the statement noted, and went on:
Great progress has been made in the movement for national reunification and in the inter-Korean relations amid the warm enthusiasm of the whole nation for reunification and the meeting of the top leaders of the north and the south was provided again in October 2007, in particular, which adopted the October 4 declaration, a programme for implementing the June 15 joint declaration, opening a new prospect for reunification.
The dynamic advance of the independent reunification movement under the banner of "By our nation itself" faced a serious obstacle after the emergence of the Lee Myung Bak regime in south Korea.
The grave circumstance prevailing in the Korean Peninsula clearly shows once again that peace and reunification of the country can be attained only when a do-or-die struggle is conducted against the confrontation and war moves of the anti-reunification forces, internal and external.
The statement warmly called upon all the Koreans at home and abroad to thoroughly preserve and implement the historic inter-Korean declarations, united close as one under the banner of "By our nation itself," and thus open a decisive phase for the country's reunification.
KCNA on Japan's Rightist Trend
Pyongyang, May 21 (KCNA) -- The conservative rightist trend is rampant in Japan at present.
The influence of the Japanese rightist forces finds a vivid expression in the issue of visit to "Yasukuni Shrine."
The LDP, a group of ultra-rightists of Japan, said in its "action program" for 2009 that it should carry forward the visit to "Yasukuni Shrine" as a responsible conservative political party.
It is zealously egging the prime minister on to visit the shrine in every way.
It asserts that it is a natural duty of the leader of Japan to pay respects to the departed soul of those who died for the sake of the country and he should continue paying a visit to it.
It is zealously encouraging the prime minister in his visit to it by wooing the rightist forces within the party to bluster that the prime minister's visit is a domestic issue and for him to visit the shrine despite the pressure at home and abroad is of great significance.
Pursuant to it, Prime Minister Aso recently presented potted branches of commemorative trees to "Yasukuni Shrine" on his behalf.
On May 11 former Prime Minister Abe said that there should be an environment so that the prime minister might legitimately visit "Yasukuni Shrine."
Endless militarist remarks are heard from Japan and the reckless moves of the ultra-right conservative groups openly denying, distorting and whitewashing the past history of aggression are being connived at, allowed and patronized there.
To lay a political and military foundation for overseas aggression is the most important issue for the Japanese rightist elements whose primary goal is militarization.
Their priority task is to train a large number of innocent youngsters in such a manner as to be capable of carrying out a war of aggression in future by taking advantage of the neo-fascist atmosphere mounting throughout the society.
The influence of the rightist forces is growing stronger in Japan as the days go by.
The rightist conservatives who have emerged hardcore and leading forces of the political circle are keen to realize their ambition they failed to do in the past, holding sway over the political mainstream in Japan. This cannot be construed otherwise than a very grave development.
Incumbent Prime Minister Aso strong in the rightist tendency has frequently denied the past history of aggression before and after he took office.
Recently he described the Pacific war ignited by the Japanese imperialists as the "greater East Asia war." Under the Aso regime the textbook for secondary schoolers distorting history passed through the government's screening on April 9.
The said history textbook describes the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592 as "dispatch of troops", not as aggression, and the Pacific war as the "greater East Asia war."
Mlitarism has already become a main source of Asian aggression in Japan influenced by the rightist conservative political view as it has a dangerous political and military impact, far from remaining a departed soul.
In recent years the Japanese Diet has deliberated and adopted various kinds of military laws and regulations or revised ones almost every year, thus establishing in the main a legal system including a legislation for wartime mobilization. As a result, the conversion of Japan into a military power has already become part of the state strategic system.
Japan has steadily increased the military spending and developed highly scientific and technological equipment, thereby bolstering up the "Self-Defense Forces" as the armed forces fully capable of conducting operations and fighting a real war.
Japan dispatched destroyers of the "Maritime Self-Defense Force" to the waters off Somalia on the basis of the enlarged interpretation of the "law on SDF" under the pretext of performing its "international duty" and "ensuring the security" in the international sea route. On May 18 it sent an advance party to dispatch P-3C of the MSDF there in a bid to get it start fulfilling its real duty overseas.
The military muscle of Japan is rapidly increasing as it has already grown strong as a result of huge military spending and the backing of the rightist forces at home.
It is clear that militarist Japan may launch reinvasion any time.
The danger of Japan's veer to Right lies in the revival of militarism.
The revived Japanese militarism, the second war force, may plunge not only Asia but the rest of the world into a horrible war disaster again.
This is the reason why the international community should heighten the vigilance against the rightist trend of thought in Japan and strictly guard against it.
The Real Threats to Peace in Korea: Washington and Tokyo
Statement from the Party for Socialism and Liberation
The response of U.S. and Japanese authorities to the reported North Korean satellite launch is the height of imperial hypocrisy. Ostensibly to protect its country from potential debris falling from the North Korean satellite rocket launch, Japan has mobilized two missile-equipped destroyers into the Sea of Japan, and initiated its full missile defense system. The U.S. and South Korea have called a test rocket launch a "major provocation" and are preparing military deployments of their own. Both the U.S. and Japan are threatening to intensify or prolong sanctions on North Korea.
The Pentagon deployed the USS John Stennis warship for military exercises off the coast of Korea just two weeks ago.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has stated that a missile launch "for any purpose is a provocative act." According to Washington, then, North Korea is banned from having its own satellites, unless, perhaps, they can get the U.S. to launch them on their behalf. This is absurd and unabashed imperial arrogance. North Korea, for its part, says it will interpret any physical interference with its rocket test as an act of war.
Just this month, the U.S. carried out its yearly military training exercise off the coast of Korea with 26,000 U.S. servicemen, including 13,100 stationed outside South Korea. The Pentagon also mobilized a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier of the U.S. Navy's 3rd Fleet and a few Aegis destroyers for the exercise. The fact that the U.S. military is constantly thumping its chest in the Pacific, and in nearly every other corner of the world, is never made into an international scandal.
The Pentagon maintains 9,962 nuclear warheads, and performs an unknown number of test launches with the most advanced military weaponry in the world. But these are no mere tests. With this military might, the United States has launched war of aggression after war of aggression, illegal covert action after illegal covert action. Yet somehow, hypocritically, Washington retains the title of the "responsible" military power, while North Korea is portrayed as an aggressor nation for taking such threats seriously -- for having dared to even test their comparatively small arsenal.
Not a day goes by without North Korea being badgered and threatened, in some form or another, by its former colonizers. Japan, despite the supposed disarmament that followed World War II, is again a fully armed nation. North Korea is a country that full understands the horrors that can be inflicted by the U.S. military machine. Before its revolution, it experienced the full brutality of Japanese colonialism. It has experienced isolation, encirclement, and numerous brink-of-war showdowns with imperialism. It does not take war lightly and has no interest in it as an offensive tactic.
Korea, like Vietnam, was maintained as a cruelly divided nation by U.S. imperialism. The U.S. re-invaded Korea in 1950. According to the 1967 Encyclopedia Brittanica, more than 5 million Koreans died between 1950 and the July 1953 armistice that halted ope