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 Commentary/ Reunification Is Top Priority Task of Korean Nation
Pyongyang, January 6 (KCNA) -- It is the fixed will of the Workers' Party of Korea and the government of the DPRK to make another centenary of Kim Il Sung's nation a centenary of national reunification.
The leading newspapers of the party, army and youth league in the joint New Year editorial called for carrying out the instructions of President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il for national reunification.
It was a lifelong wish of the great persons of Mt. Paektu to build a rich and prosperous reunified country on this land.
Kim Jong Il devoted his whole life to accomplishing the President's cause of national reunification.
He used to say how good it would be if the country is reunified so that northerners can tour Pond Paeknok on Mt. Halla and southerners tour Lake Chon on Mt. Paektu.
He always thought his nation and his fellow countrymen before anything else.
He provided the historic north-south joint declaration with national independence as its core and brought about a stirring event in which the severed blood vessels and territory of the nation have been relinked for the first time since the division of the nation. He ushered in the June 15 era of reunification in which the nation brings about independent reunification, peace and prosperity by its concerted efforts.
It was the biggest loss to the nation that it lost Kim Jong Il, lodestar of national reunification who led the fellow countrymen to the path of independence and the great national unity.
National reunification is the biggest task he left to our generation.
The on-going drive for implementing his instructions for national reunification is a patriotic one related to the nation's destiny in the new century of Juche era.
Nothing is more vital than national reunification for the Korean nation at present.
The Korean nation that had lived as a homogenous nation with one and the same blood vessel for thousands of years has suffered from misfortune, pain and shame of division even though decades have passed since the end of the Cold War.
Distrust between the fellow countrymen increasingly deepened. This tragedy of the nation adversely affects peace and stability of Northeast Asia.
National reconciliation and unity are preconditions and guarantee for national reunification.
The interests common to the nation should be placed above all and everything be subordinated to them.
The nation should uphold slogan "Let all the compatriots open the gates of national reunification full of fresh confidence!" this significant year marking the fifth anniversary of the October 4 declaration.
All the Koreans in the north and the south and abroad should step up the nationwide general march for reunification with the stand of independence, peace and the great national unity and achieve the cause of national reunification without fail.
KCNA Commentary on Rumor about "Nuclear Cooperation"
Pyongyang, November 18 (KCNA) -- Some dishonest forces are deliberately spreading the rumor that the DPRK is helping Iran in manufacturing nuclear weapons.
Some time ago, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), instigated by the U.S. and other Western countries, floated the rumor about "nuclear cooperation" between the DPRK and Iran. Then the hostile forces have spread fabricated data to make this rumor sound plausible. They even cited the outdated facts, rejected by the international community in the past, and talked nonsense that "hundreds of north Korean technicians, who took part in manufacturing nukes and missiles, have visited Iran on the shift via a third country to offer technological assistance."
The U.S.-led hostile forces have always found fault with the peaceful nuclear activities of those countries going against their grain and with their cooperation in the nuclear field.
What the forces seek in spreading the rumor about the DPRK's "nuclear cooperation", which is nonexistent, while escalating the offensive against Iran is to brand the DPRK as a "nuclear criminal" by linking it with the nuclear issue of Iran.
The story about "nuclear cooperation" is part of the hostile forces' trite slandering and deceptive tricks intended to put pressure on the DPRK.
There is no creditability in it.
Over the West's skepticism about the nuclear cooperation with the DPRK, Iranian diplomats said that Iran needs no foreign experts since it developed its own nuclear base and that Iran's nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes.
Nevertheless, the hostile forces are persistently clamoring about the DPRK's "cooperation". This is a revelation of their wicked criminal scheme to justify the campaign for sanctions on the DPRK over the nuclear issue and spoil the atmosphere of dialogue created in the Korean Peninsula.
In words they call for peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region including the peninsula but, in action they go against the dialogue and detente.
Any attempt to tarnish the external image of the DPRK with slander and plot will come to failure in the end.
Plot-breeders had better stop their foolish attempt at once.
Letter from President Hugo Chavez to His Excellency Ban Ki-moon Secretary General of the United Nations
ED NOTE: On September 17, 2011 Hugo Ch?vez Frias, President of The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela sent the following letter to Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, to confirm the Venezuelan government¡¯s support for the establishment of the State of Palestine. The Venezuelan president sent this letter as the 66th UN General Assembly votes on Palestinian statehood.
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His Excellency
Ban Ki-moon
Secretary General of the United Nations
Mr. Secretary General:
Distinguished representatives of the peoples of the world:
I address these words to the United Nations General Assembly, to this great forum that represents all the people of earth, to ratify, on this day and in this setting, Venezuela¡¯s full support of the recognition of the Palestinian State: of Palestine¡¯s right to become a free, sovereign and independent state. This represents an act of historic justice towards a people who carry with them, from time immemorial, all the pain and suffering of the world.
In his memorable essay The Grandeur of Arafat, the great French philosopher Gilles Deleuze wrote with the full weight of the truth: The Palestinian cause is first and foremost the set of injustices that these people have suffered and continue to suffer. And I dare add that the Palestinian cause also represents a constant and unwavering will to resist, already written in the historic memory of the human condition. A will to resist that is born of the most profound love for the earth. Mahmoud Darwish, the infinite voice of the longed-for Palestine, with heartfelt conscience speaks about this love: We don¡¯t need memories/ because we carry within us Mount Carmelo/ and in our eyelids is the herb of Galilee./ Don¡¯t say: If only we could flow to my country like a river!/ Don¡¯t say that!/ Because we are in the flesh of our country/ and our country is in our flesh.
Against those who falsely assert that what has happened to the Palestinian people is not genocide, Deleuze himself states with unfaltering lucidity: From beginning to end, it involved acting as if the Palestinian people not only must not exist, but had never existed. It represents the very essence of genocide: to decree that a people do not exist; to deny them the right to existence.
In this regard, the great Spanish writer Juan Goytisolo is quite right when he forcefully states: The biblical promise of the land of Judea and Samaria to the tribes of Israel is not a notarized property contract that authorizes the eviction of those who were born and live on that land.
This is precisely why conflict resolution in the Middle East must, necessarily, bring justice to the Palestinian people; this is the only path to peace.
It is upsetting and painful that the same people who suffered one of the worst examples of genocide in history have become the executioners of the Palestinian people: it is upsetting and painful that the heritage of the Holocaust be the Nakba. And it is truly disturbing that Zionism continues to use the charge of anti-Semitism as blackmail against those who oppose their violations and crimes. Israel has, blatantly and despicably, used and continues to use the memory of the victims. And they do so to act with complete impunity against Palestine. It¡¯s worth mentioning that anti-Semitism is a Western, European, scourge in which the Arabs do not participate. Furthermore, let¡¯s not forget that it is the Semite Palestine people who suffer from the ethnic cleansing practiced by the Israeli colonialist State.
I want to make myself clear: It is one thing to denounce anti-Semitism, and an entirely different thing to passively accept that Zionistic barbarism enforces an apartheid regime against the Palestinian people. From an ethical standpoint those who denounce the first, must condemn the second.
A necessary digression: it is frankly abusive to confuse Zionism with Judaism. Throughout time we have been reminded of this by several Jewish intellectuals such as Albert Einstein and Erich Fromm. And today there are an ever increasing number of conscientious citizens, within Israel itself, who openly oppose Zionism and its criminal and terrorist practices.
We must spell it out: Zionism, as a world vision, is absolutely racist. Irrefutable proof of this can be seen in these words written with terrifying cynicism by Golda Meir: How are we to return the occupied territories? There is nobody to return them to. There is no such thing as a Palestinian people. It is not as people think, that there existed a people called Palestinians, who considered themselves as Palestinians, and that we came and threw them out and took their country. They didn¡¯t exist.¡±
It is important to remember that: from the end of the 19th century, Zionism called for the return of the Jewish people to Palestine and the creation of a national State of its own. This approach was beneficial for French and British colonialism, as it would later be for Yankee imperialism. The West has always encouraged and supported the Zionist occupation of Palestine by military means.
Read and reread the document historically known as the Balfour Declaration of 1917: the British Government assumed the legal authority to promise a national home in Palestine to the Jewish people, deliberately ignoring the presence and wishes of its inhabitants. It should be added that Christians and Muslims lived in peace for centuries in the Holy Land up until the time when Zionism began to claim it as its complete and exclusive property.
Let¡¯s not forget that beginning in the second decade of the 20th century, Zionism started to develop its expansionist plans by taking advantage of the colonial British occupation of Palestine. By the end of World War II, the Palestinian people¡¯s tragedy worsened, with their expulsion from their territory and, at the same time, from history. In 1947, the despicable and illegal UN resolution 181 recommends dividing Palestine into a Jewish State, an Arab State, and an area under international control (Jerusalem and Belem). Shamefully, 56 percent of the territory was granted to Zionism to establish its State. In fact, this resolution violated international law and blatantly ignored the will of the vast Arab majority: the right to self-determination of the people became a dead letter.
From 1948 to date, the Zionist State has continually applied its criminal strategy against the Palestinian people with the constant support of its unconditional ally, the United States of America. This unconditional allegiance is clearly observed by the fact that Israel directs and sets US international policy for the Middle East. That¡¯s why the great Palestinian and universal conscience Edward Said stated that any peace agreement built on the alliance with the United States would be an alliance that confirms Zionist power, rather than one that confronts it.
Now then: contrary to what Israel and the United States are trying to make the world believe through transnational media outlets, what happened and continues to happen in Palestine ?using Said¡¯s words? is not a religious conflict, but a political conflict, with a colonial and imperialist stamp. It did not begin in the Middle East, but rather in Europe.
What was and continues to be at the heart of the conflict?: debate and discussion has prioritized Israel¡¯s security while ignoring Palestine¡¯s. This is corroborated by recent events; a good example is the latest act of genocide set off by Israel during its Operation Molten Lead in Gaza.
Palestine¡¯s security cannot be reduced to the simple acknowledgement of a limited self-government and self-policing in its ¡°enclaves¡± along the west bank of the Jordan and in the Gaza Strip. This ignores the creation of the Palestinian State, in the borders set prior to 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital; and the rights of its citizens and their self-determination as a people. This further disregards the compensation and subsequent return to the Homeland of 50 percent of the Palestinian people who are scattered all over the world, as established by resolution 194.
It¡¯s unbelievable that a country (Israel) that owes its existence to a general assembly resolution could be so disdainful of the resolutions that emanate from the UN, said Father Miguel D¡¯Escoto when pleading for the end of the massacre against the people of Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009.
Mr. Secretary General and distinguished representatives of the peoples of the world:
It is impossible to ignore the crisis in the United Nations. In 2005, before this very same General Assembly, we argued that the United Nations model had become exhausted. The fact that the debate on the Palestinian issue has been delayed and is being openly sabotaged reconfirms this.
For several days, Washington has been stating that, at the Security Council, it will veto what will be a majority resolution of the General Assembly: the recognition of Palestine as a full member of the UN. In the Statement of Recognition of the Palestinian State, Venezuela, together with the sister Nations that make up the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), have denounced that such a just aspiration could be blocked by this means. As we know, the empire, in this and other instances, is trying to impose its double standard on the world stage: Yankee double standards are violating international law in Libya, while allowing Israel to do whatever it pleases, thus becoming the main accomplice of the Palestinian genocide being carried out by the hands of Zionist barbarity. Edward Said touched a nerve when he wrote that: Israeli interests in the United States have made the US¡¯ Middle East policy Israeli-centric.
I would like to conclude with the voice of Mahmoud Darwish in his memorable poem On This Earth: We have on this earth what makes life worth living: On this earth, the lady of earth, Mother of all beginnings/ Mother of all ends. She was called¡¦ Palestine./ Her name later became¡¦ Palestine./ My Lady, because you are my Lady, I deserve life.
It will continue to be called Palestine: Palestine will live and overcome! Long-live free, sovereign and independent Palestine!
Hugo Ch?vez Fr?as
President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
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Source
Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
1099 30th Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20007
(202) 342-2214
[Hangyeore Editorial] The path to six-party talks
Observers have called the results of last weekend¡¯s high-level talks between North Korea and the United States ¡°not bad.¡± It was initially announced that they would be preliminary talks to explore their counterpart¡¯s intentions, and, accordingly, they did not produce any concrete results. But the overall assessment after the meeting between both countries¡¯ representatives was a hopeful one, and the prospects for continued dialogue and a resumption of the six-party talks appear somewhat brighter.
U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Stephen Bosworth said the dialogue was an occasion for examining whether Pyongyang was willing to take concrete and irreversible steps toward denuclearization. In that regard, he said, the dialogue was ¡°constructive¡± and ¡°businesslike.¡± Bosworth also said there would be discussions with the U.S.¡¯s partners in the six-party talks toward the next stage. North Korea appears to have presented some ideas or stance that could be taken as indicating that it was okay for the U.S. to go on negotiating. North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-kwan called the talks ¡°very constructive and businesslike¡± and said he would ¡°continue with the linkage in the future.¡± It may be the case that Pyongyang brought up the issues of discussions toward peace talks, normalization of North Korea-U.S. relations, the lifting of sanctions, and food aid, and took a favorable view of Washington¡¯s response.
However, given how complex the North Korean nuclear issue is and how it is linked with inter-Korean relations, it appears unlikely that things will go ahead at full bore. But they do not appear likely to drag out, either. With a presidential election taking place in 2012, the Barack Obama administration in the U.S. is showing signs of reexamining its policies of strategic patience and indifference toward Pyongyang. China, which has consistently called for a resumption of the six-party talks, is also likely to welcome this. South Korea¡¯s Senior Representative Wi Sung-lac said that the next stage of North Korea-U.S. contacts would be ¡°laid out within the next few weeks,¡± adding that ¡°we are now moving toward a new stage of dialogue.¡±
The latest North Korea-U.S. meeting took place one week after an inter-Korean meeting at the ASEAN Regional forum. It corresponds to the second stage in a three-stage plan for resumption of the six-party talks as agreed upon by the countries involved in the talks. Before any consideration of its content, the very format of the New York City meeting, taking place quickly on the heels of the first stage, gave the impression that Washington is hurrying to resume the six-party talks.
But this marks only the beginning stages, with a lot of road left to travel. The key will ultimately be the attitudes in Seoul and Pyongyang. If they do not adopt a wise approach to resolving the Cheonan, Yeonpyeong Island, and denuclearization issues, South Korea could find itself a stumbling block to the six-party talks, or end up in the position of being shut out by Pyongyang in favor of direct contact with Washington. North Korea needs to bear in mind that it will not be able to accomplish anything if it focuses solely on improving relations with the United States and regards dialogue with South Korea as little more than a stepping stone toward that.
DPRK's Will to Remain True to Idea and Principle of NAM Clarified
Pyongyang, May 27 (KCNA) -- The DPRK will as ever creditably fulfill its mission and responsibility for invariably adhering to the idea and principle of the Non-aligned Movement (NAM) and embodying them, said head of the DPRK delegation Pak Ui Chun, minister of Foreign Affairs, addressing the meeting of non-aligned foreign ministers on May 25.
The NAM made a great contribution to meeting all challenges of history and overcoming difficulties, safeguarding the global peace and security and protecting the collective rights and interests of its member nations, he noted.
He referred to the fact that President Kim Il Sung deemed it as the basic mission of the NAM to build a new free and peaceful world long ago and made indefatigable efforts for its development and unity and cooperation among its member nations.
Since its very inception the NAM has always paid a deep attention to solving the issue on the Korean Peninsula and positively supported and encouraged the DPRK government and its people in the efforts for achieving the independent and peaceful reunification of Korea and ensuring lasting peace on the peninsula, he noted, and went on:
It is the stand and the main purpose of dialogue to defuse the tension, build confidence and head for reconciliation, cooperation and peace through dialogue and negotiations under the situation where hostile relations persist between the DPRK and the U.S. and the north and the south.
These efforts of the DPRK, however, have failed to receive due response.
The U.S. is shunning dialogue with a variety of pre-conditions and persistently posing a nuclear threat to the DPRK and putting sanctions and pressure upon it.
The present south Korean authorities are becoming evermore undisguised in their moves to escalate the confrontation with the DPRK and ignite a war against it in collusion with the outside forces, persistently denying the June 15 joint declaration and the October 4 declaration.
It is the DPRK's stand to react to dialogue with dialogue and sanctions with a tough policy.
Pak expressed deep thanks to the member nations of the NAM for having extended support to the Korean people in their just cause of defending peace on the peninsula and reunifying the country and expressed expectation and belief that they would continue to extend solidarity to them, in the future, too.
The DPRK remains unchanged in its stand to develop the NAM and achieve global independence, he stressed.
Anniversary of April Popular Uprising Observed
Pyongyang, April 19 (KCNA) -- Major newspapers of the DPRK Tuesday mark the 51st anniversary of the April Popular Uprising in south Korea.
The uprising was an eruption of the south Korean people's grudge and wrath at the U.S. imperialists and their lackeys, pent up under their colonial rule in 15 years after the liberation of the country. It was a mass anti-U.S. and anti-fascist resistance involving millions of people across south Korea.
Youth and students and people from all walks of life in south Korea waged the do-or-die resistance in face of the fascist repression and thus toppled the dictatorial regime of Syngman Rhee, a pro-American traitor.
Through the uprising they dealt a telling blow at the U.S. colonial enslavement policy and proved that any dictatorial forces can be defeated if the patriotic forces go united and wage implacable struggle, Rodong Sinmun says in a bylined article.
51 years have passed since the uprising, but the desire of the south Korean people for independence, democracy and reunification has not yet been realized, the article says, adding:
It is a prerequisite for carving out the nation's independent destiny to put an end to the U.S. domination and interference in south Korea.
The south Korean people should be mindful that the national dignity and sovereignty can be ensured only through the struggle to resolutely smash the political domination and interference and intensified economic and cultural aggression on the part of the U.S.
They should thoroughly oppose and reject the idea of worshipping and kowtowing to the U.S. and dependence on foreign forces.
They should check and frustrate the treacherous policy of the conservative ruling forces that are running amuck to escalate confrontation with fellow countrymen, backed by outside forces.
When the people from all walks of life in south Korea wage vigorous and stubborn struggle in the spirit of the April 19 uprising, their cherished desire to live in an independent, democratic and reunified, new world free from foreign forces and the treacherous forces will be certainly realized.
Minju Joson calls upon all the south Korean people to turn out in the fight to terminate the treacherous rule by the conservative group as the forerunners toppled the Syngman Rhee regime through the April 19 uprising.
KCNA Terms Japan's Actions against Chongryon Politically Terrorism
Pyongyang, March 3 (KCNA) -- The Resolution and Collection Corporation of Japan committed an outrageous action by provisionally seizing facilities of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) on Feb. 21.
On Feb. 18 the Tokyo District Court made a decision on approving the application of the above-said corporation for the provisional seizure of land and buildings of the Central Standing Committee of Chongryon.
The court judged that some 62. 7 billion yen out of the total bond which the corporation bought from the former Tokyo Credit Association of the Korean Bank in June 2007 was a loan for Chongryon and ruled that it should reimburse the total amount.
This was a vicious political plot of the Japanese reactionaries to destroy Chongryon through the seizure of its facilities.
By origin, the issue of false bond is an economic issue. So the settlement of it through reconciliation has been recognized as the most common and reasonable solution. Hence, the Tokyo High Court recommended the above-said corporation to solve the issue of Chongryon-related facilities including the Hall of its Central Standing Committee through reconciliation.
This notwithstanding, the Japanese authorities instructed the corporation to unilaterally scrap the reconciliation proposal. This is a politically motivated grave suppression disregarding the commonly accepted practice concerning the bond issue and an outrageous national discrimination. Provisional seizure is a measure taken by a creditor to preserve the property of a debtor until the court's ruling is confirmed.
The Japanese authorities kicked up much fuss after raising this issue again a few months before the High Court's decision though the action taken to provisionally seize the above-said facilities in June, 2007 was an unjust attitude. This brought to light their sinister political intention to grab Chongryon-related facilities at any cost.
The Japanese reactionaries persistently conducted an anti-Chongryon campaign, regarding its activities as a thorn in their flesh in the past, too.
What should not be overlooked is that in 2006, 24 cities of Japan announced that they would repeal or reduce the measures to exempt the taxes for Chongryon-related facilities against the backdrop of the whirlwind of anti-DPRK and anti-Chongryon sanctions and the Tokyo District Court ruled that the land and buildings of the Central Standing Committee of Chongryon should be sold by auction.
These facts go to prove that the Japanese reactionaries' campaigns to destroy Chongryon including their moves to grab its facilities have never ceased as they are steeped in bitterness towards Chongryon and Koreans in Japan to the marrow of their bones. This awful terrorism has been ceaselessly perpetrated in various parts of Japan.
Chongryon is a legitimate organization of overseas citizens of the DPRK formed to protect the democratic national rights of the Koreans in Japan, the directive victims of the forcible drafting of Koreans committed by the Japanese imperialists in the past, and their descendants. The issue of Chongryon is a sensitive political issue directly related to the DPRK.
Japan should prudently handle the issue of Chongryon-related facilities as a political matter, bearing in mind that any action to destroy Chongryon precisely means the one against the DPRK.
Rodong Sinmun Calls for Opening New Phase of Independent Reunification
Pyongyang, January 4 (KCNA) -- "Let all Koreans in the north, south and abroad join efforts and bring a new phase of independent reunification!" This is a slogan set forth in the joint New Year editorial.
The slogan reflects the firm faith in the united efforts of the Korean nation, driving force for national reunification, and bright future of the nation to be shaped by them, said Rodong Sinmun in a bylined article Tuesday.
All the Koreans in the north and the south and abroad should turn out in the patriotic drive for independent reunification true to the militant slogan to fulfill the responsibility and duty they have assumed before the nation, said the article, adding:
This patriotic slogan reflects the desire and will of the Koreans and the requirement of the times.
The most urgent task in defending and realizing independence of the nation is to reunify the divided country as soon as possible.
For the Koreans, reunification precisely means patriotism.
The basic duty for them this year is to bring a new phase of independent reunification.
No one can replace the Korean nation in reunifying the country and its wisdom, will and strength serve as a source for ushering in the bright dawn of reunification.
Every Korean should dedicate strength, contribute knowledge and donate money, anything he or she has, for reunification.