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.)
Replacement of Armistice Agreement by Peace Accord Urged
Pyongyang, July 28 (KCNA) -- 55 years have passed since the Armistice Agreement was signed between the DPRK and the U.S.
In this regard Rodong Sinmun Monday carries a signed commentary which says: In order to prevent the danger of a new war and ensure durable peace on the Korean Peninsula, there is no other way but to put an end to the U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK and conclude a peace accord between them.
The above-said policy of the U.S. is a main obstacle to settling the pending issues such as the nuclear issue and ensuring peace on the peninsula, the commentary notes, and goes on:
The U.S. has systematically violated the fragile AA, instead of replacing AA by a peace accord on the peninsula.
The hostile policy enforced by the U.S. towards the DPRK has resulted in bedeviling not only the DPRK-U.S. relations but the inter-Korean relations. The situation is further deteriorating. The U.S. drop of the above-mentioned policy is, therefore, essential for defusing the tension and ensuring security on the peninsula. This is also in line with the interests of not only the north and the south of Korea but other countries around it.
The DPRK has consistently urged the United States to rectify its hostile policy toward the DPRK and replace the AA by a peace accord.
Had the U.S. rolled back the above-said policy as called for by the DPRK, no such complicated pending issues as what they are facing now would have surfaced between them.
The U.S. warlike forces are straining the situation behind the scene of the six-party talks while systematically escalating their military moves to invade the DPRK.
The military tension can never be defused on the peninsula nor can the danger of war be removed from there unless the U.S. drops the above-said policy and replaces the AA by a peace accord.
Everything depends on the stand and attitude of the U.S.
The U.S. should not evade its heavy responsibility as the party chiefly to blame for having deteriorated the situation on the peninsula and caused the nuclear crisis but respond as early as possible to the just call of the DPRK for replacing the AA by a peace accord. This would be beneficial not only to ensuring peace and security in Northeast Asia and other parts of the world but also to the U.S., concludes the commentary.
[Hangyrae Editorial] Summit declarations integral to N. Korea policy
Ahead of the 8th anniversary of the June 15 Joint Declaration, there is a growing call for the government to change its policy on North Korea. Following calls for change by experts and scholars at home and abroad, people who were instrumental in moving inter-Korean relations forward in the 1990s are increasingly adding their voices to the din. The group includes former President Kim Dae-jung, former unification ministers Lim Dong-won and Jeong Se-hyun, and Rep. Park Ji-won. Current Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong, who has been tentative about his stance, is also trying to display a different attitude by participating in an event related to the anniversary of the June 15 Joint Declaration.
The calls for a shift in North Korean policy are not so complex. People are urging the government to clearly acknowledge the October 4 summit declaration of 2007 and the June 15 Joint Declaration of 2000 and pledge to implement them. The two declarations were documents signed by the leaders of South and North Korea after intensive negotiations. Without respect for the two declarations, no policy will make progress in inter-Korean relations. Although the government is emphasizing the South-North Basic Agreement that came into force under the government of President Roh Tae-woo in 1992, it seems to be willing to turn inter-Korean relations back to the way they were in the early 1990s. The South-North Basic Agreement wasnĄ¯t implemented because it contains general principles. The June 15 declaration made it specific by outlining a set of practical terms by which it would be implemented. The October 4 declaration, which in turn grew out of the June 15 declaration, contained details on economic cooperation projects to be carried out between the two Koreas.
North Korea is working on the final step of disclosing all of its nuclear activities and is waiting for the next step: dismantlement of its nuclear facilities. To smoothly complete the declaration step, diplomatic efforts by the countries involved in the six-party talks are now in full gear. However, there is little room for South Korea, whose role has seemingly been weakened following the inauguration of the new government. With no leverage in relations with North Korea, South Korea is being driven into a corner and its reliance on other nations is rising.
If and when the situation evolves to the next stage, South Korea could be excluded from key policy decisions related to the Korean Peninsula, including a peace regime for the peninsula and Northeast Asia. Nevertheless, the government continues to neglect deteriorating inter-Korean relations as a result of its tenacity to distance itself from the previous government. By prioritizing this tendency, rather than being focused on the nation and people, the government has no choice but to face criticism about the decisions it has made in this area.
Moreover, there have been no plans made for talks between South and North Korean authorities, in spite of the serious food shortage in North Korea. But before blame is doled out to those responsible, the government should first put a stop to the current situation. The government of President Lee Myung-bak is now on the verge of reshaping its major policy goals. The North Korea policy is among the things on the agenda that should be changed first.
Implementation of Inter-Korean Declarations Called for
Pyongyang, May 8 (KCNA) -- The north-south joint declaration serves as one of independent reunification common to the nation both in name and reality as it embodies the nation's desire and aspiration for independence and the nation's will for independent reunification and indicates the way of achieving it.
Rodong Sinmun today says this in a signed article.
It goes on: The Korean people have held fast to the joint declaration and worked hard to implement it for the past 8 years, thus registering great successes in the development of the inter-Korean relations and the movement for independent reunification. This vividly shows the validity and vitality of the declaration which gives priority to national independence.
The June 15 joint declaration has ushered in a new history of reconciliation and unity in the country.
In this course the structure of confrontation was formed with the Korean nation in one side and the U.S. in the other and the north and the south deeply grasped that to pool efforts of the Korean nation is the best way of achieving independent reunification. As a result, the banner of "By our nation itself" was raised higher across the country.
Last year the October 4 Declaration for Development of North-South Relations and Peace and Prosperity was adopted in Pyongyang. The adoption meant the provision of a historic program for more firmly defending and implementing the north-south joint declaration, a landmark event in encouraging the Koreans' will for independent reunification. When the Koreans hold fast to the historic June 15 joint declaration and October 4 declaration it would be possible to successfully solve all the issues arising in the way of achieving reunification and achieve the historic cause of national reunification, its cherished desire.
The "Grand National Party" conservative forces which recently came to power in south Korea are a group of sycophants and traitors as they put the interests of the foreign forces above those of the nation and seek dependence on the outsiders, not national independence. New difficulties have thus been laid in the way ahead of the movement for national reunification.
The south Korean conservative ruling forces' desperate moves to check the trend of independent reunification of the nation will only precipitate their destruction.
KCNA Blasts Fukuda Regime's Suppression of Chongryon
Pyongyang, March 18 (KCNA) -- Japan has intensified the suppression of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon), a dignified organization of overseas citizens of the DPRK, and Koreans in Japan.
Chongryon has played the role of an overseas mission of the DPRK in the absence of the diplomatic relations between the DPRK and Japan. This status is recognized not only by the international community but by Japanese.
The Japanese authorities, however, have held trials to seize the Central Hall of Chongryon and its premises which have been used as a center for Chongryon's activities.
They also confirmed the policy for extending again the unilateral sanctions against the DPRK which call for putting an embargo on the ship "Mangyongbong-92", etc. under the pretext that there is no progress in the settlement of the "abduction issue".
A whirlwind of anti-Chongryon campaign is sweeping different parts of Japan including Kyoto and Osaka at the prodding of the Fukuda Cabinet. Actions are taken to search for Korean halls and schools and other Chongryon-related facilities, force sale upon them and write off them from the list of tax exemption and arrest Chongryon officials.
This reveals Japan's very hostile policy toward the DPRK and indicates that the present Japanese authorities are worse than the Abe regime in the wanton violation of the rights of Koreans in Japan.
As well known to the world, the Abe group was ousted from power as it staked its political fate on its hard-line policy towards the DPRK, clean indifferent to the interests of the Japanese people.
Far from drawing a serious lesson from it, the Fukuda Cabinet extended the sanctions against the DPRK, etc. as soon as it came to power, stoking bitterness towards Koreans in the archipelago of Japan.
There is a saying "One devil knows another". "Pressure and dialogue" are just the same as "dialogue and pressure" and the Fukuda regime's anti-DPRK and anti-Chongryon campaign has become craftier than what was conducted during the Abe regime.
The Fukuda Cabinet worked hard to create impression in the international community that it is somewhat different from the preceding cabinet. But its true colors have already been brought to light.
It pricked its own eyes with its own hands.
Japan is the only land of brazen-faced gangsters with the worst human rights record in the world because it has suppressed foreign residents en masse, regarding them as a lever for carrying out its policy of pressure upon their homeland, and has gone the lengths of trying to destroy their organization.
The relations between countries are one thing and the guarantee of legitimate status and national rights to foreign residents is another matter. The Japanese authorities can neither sacrifice the Koreans in Japan and Chongryon nor use them as hostages for achieving their political aims under any circumstances.
The Japanese reactionaries' short-sighted and desperate anti-DPRK and anti-Chongryon moves are, in fact, doing harm to the interests of Japan.
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Fukuda Regime's Hostile Policy towards DPRK Flayed
Pyongyang, March 18 (KCNA) -- The Japanese authorities are now becoming evermore undisguised in their moves to seize the Central Hall of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon). This clearly indicates how desperately they are staging the anti-DPRK, anti-Chongryon campaign, says Minju Joson Tuesday in a signed commentary.
The moves to destroy Chongryon that started when Abe was in power have become all the pronounced under the Fukuda regime, the commentary notes, and goes on:
The Fukuda regime is pursuing with increased zeal the anachronistic hostile policy toward the DPRK shaped by its predecessor who went to ruin.
The fact that it is following in the footsteps of its predecessor indicates that Japan's "sanctions" against the DPRK are proving absolutely futile.
Much upset by this, the Fukuda regime seeks to attain its sinister political purpose by suppressing the activities of Chongryon through the escalated anti-Chongryon campaign, inflicting greater pain upon the Koreans in Japan and thus putting pressure on the DPRK.
The Japanese authorities, however, are gravely mistaken if they calculate they can gain something by regarding Koreans in Japan as hostages and employing a sleight of hand. This will only bring into bolder relief their despicable true colors as those responsible for deliberately aggravating the DPRK-Japan relations and entail such consequences as precipitating their domestic and international isolation.
The people in the DPRK will never remain an onlooker to the Japanese reactionaries' anti-DPRK and anti-Chongryon campaign.
The Fukuda regime had better stop at once all its moves against the DPRK and Chongryon if it does not want to suffer what its predecessor did, warns the commentary.
Japan Accused of Standing in Way of Six-Party Talks
Pyongyang, February 19 (KCNA) -- Japan had better quit the six-party talks of its own accord, admitting it lacks any political ability to handle such sensitive and crucial issue as the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.
Minju Joson Tuesday says this in a signed commentary.
It goes on: Japan is taking much pain to turn the six-party talks into a platform for confrontation.
The participating countries, except Japan, took relevant actions to fulfil their commitments as required by the October 3 agreement.
It was only Japan that has not taken any move.
These days Japan seems to work hard to torpedo the talks, talking about "triangular cooperative system for pressurizing north Korea."
Clear is the aim sought by Japan in its moves to convert the multinational talks into a platform for confrontation.
It is working with bloodshot eyes to achieve its sinister political aim, remaining indifferent to the settlement of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula. It is its ulterior motive to escalate its policy of pressure upon the DPRK under the pretext of the "abduction issue" and scuttle the above-said talks in case everything goes against its will.
What is more cynical is that its bad behavior has reached a shameless phase.
It is making no scruple of letting loose a spate of rubbish that "it is disappointed at the fact that no progress has been made" in the course of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula though more than one year has passed since the February 13 agreement was adopted.
Unlike other countries, Japan has no moral right to utter anything about the above-said matter because it has done all sorts of wrongs just to disturb the talks.
Its behavior of finding fault with this or that only reminds one of the scandalous action of the mentally deranged fellow.
New S Korean leader to face probe
South Korea's Constitutional Court has cleared the way for a special investigation into allegations of fraud against President-elect Lee Myung-bak.
The court dismissed a petition from Mr Lee's backers, which sought to halt the inquiry on the grounds that legislation authorising it was unconstitutional.
A special prosecutor will start working on the case next week.
Mr Lee won a landslide victory in last month's presidential election and is due to take office on 25 February.
Analysts believe the investigation is unlikely to be completed by then, and once Mr Lee takes office he will be immune from prosecution.
Video evidence
The 65-year-old former executive was dogged throughout his election campaign by allegations linking him to a financial scandal in 2001.
The case involved his alleged links to an investment firm at the centre of a share-rigging scandal.
In early December, prosecutors decided there was not enough evidence to charge Mr Lee.
But lawmakers then voted to re-open the case when a video emerged in which the president-elect was shown apparently saying he had established the scandal-hit company.
He denies the allegations and says his words have been taken out of context. Mr Lee's supporters claimed that clauses in the law authorising a fresh investigation were unconstitutional.
But the court ruled that while one part of the law - enabling investigators to question witnesses without a warrant - violated the constitution, the probe could go ahead.
Japanese Reactionaries' Anti-Chongryon Campaign under Fire
Pyongyang, December 4 (KCNA) -- The campaign being perpetrated by the Japanese reactionaries against the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) these days reveals before the world the brutal nature and moral vulgarity peculiar to Japan as they leave no means untried to
attain their criminal purpose in violation of laws and human rights, says Rodong Sinmun Tuesday in a signed commentary.
It is a trite method used by the Japanese reactionaries for suppressing Chongryon to fabricate shocking cases and stage a series of search operations to justify them, the commentary notes, and goes on:
The Japanese public security authorities are now busy stoking hysteric anti-Chongryon atmosphere after faking up cases one after another, raising a hue and cry over "suspected tax evasion" and the like. It admits of no argument that this is intended to paint the organization of Korean workers in commerce in Japan, a financial base of Chongryon, as an "organization engrossed in illegal acts" in a bid to invent a pretext for stamping out Chongryon and tear Korean traders and industrialists from it.
The Japanese reactionaries' suppression of Chongryon and Koreans in Japan is not confined to this only. They are beating the drum to step up the anachronistic hard-line policy towards the DPRK quite contrary to the trend of the international community and escalating their crackdown upon Chongryon, pursuant to the policy. The Japanese public security authorities' ceaseless anti-Chongryon campaign is not only a blatant infringement upon the rights of Koreans in Japan but a wanton violation of the dignity and sovereignty of the DPRK.
The DPRK would like to send a loud and clear message to the Japanese reactionaries.
Chongryon is a dignified overseas citizens' organization of the DPRK. The DPRK will never remain a passive on-looker to the Japanese reactionaries' such unethical and brutal criminal acts as harshly suppressing Chongryon in violation of the rights of Koreans in Japan including their vital rights but force them to pay for all their crimes without fail. The Japanese reactionaries should stop at once their reckless suppression of Chongryon.
Brisk Visits and Contacts among Koreans Called for
Pyongyang, October 21 (KCNA) -- In order to achieve the great unity of the whole nation it is necessary to actively realize visits and contacts, dialogue and solidarity and alliance, putting the common interests of the nation above anything else irrespective of ideology and system, political view and religious belief and interests of classes and strata.
Rodong Sinmun Sunday says this in a signed article.
Referring to the importance of the solidarity and alliance in the struggle to achieve the great unity of the whole nation, the article goes on: Korea remains divided into the north and the south due to outside forces and there exist differing ideologies and systems. Members of the nation differ from each other in political views and religious beliefs and there is also a gap between classes and strata in interests.
The Korean nation, a homogeneous nation, can trust and get reconciled with each other and achieve the national unity wherever they live, despite whatever differences. It is an important way of achieving the reconciliation and unity to realize visits and contacts, dialogue and solidarity and alliance among Koreans in the north and the south and abroad.
All the functions for reunification that compatriots of different social standings in the north and the south and abroad held visiting each other along the road opened up by the June 15 era of reunification in recent years have provided good occasions of deepening each other's interests and trust and clearly proved that the Korean nation can surely achieve the great unity under the banner of national reunification.
The Korean nation should steadily stir up the atmosphere of reconciliation and unity across the country and all organizations for the reunification movement at home and abroad should expand and develop the solidarity and alliance on a new higher stage with June 15 All-Korean Committee as an umbrella body under the banner of "By our nation itself".
Rodong Sinmun Calls for Reinforcing Non-Aligned Movement
Pyongyang, August 25 (KCNA) -- The DPRK government, regarding it as an iron rule governing its external activities to steadfastly adhere to the basic principle and idea of the non-aligned movement (NAM) and be loyal to it, will fulfill its responsibility and duty for its strengthening and development and victorious advance in the future, too.
Rodong Sinmun today says this in a signed article. It goes on: The DPRK became a full-fledged member of the NAM on August 25, 1975. It marked an important occasion in raising the international position and say of the DPRK and putting spurs to the strengthening of the NAM.
The DPRK's joining it helped elevate its authority and increase its role and influence.
The DPRK calls upon the member nations of the NAM to further consolidate the unity and solidarity in the struggle for defending sovereignty and take concerted action to make sure that the principle of respecting sovereignty is fully observed in handling the major pending issues including disarmament, human rights, anti-terrorism and UN reform. And the DPRK has conducted positive external activities in a bid to reenergize the NAM while paying deep attention to the actions to make sure that double standards are repudiated and the principle of equality and impartiality is observed in the international relations.
Today the NAM is faced with important tasks to be implemented by it to strengthen the solidarity and cooperation among its member nations and give fuller play to its ability of action in order to cope with the ever-changing international situation.
The NAM should preserve its basic principle and purity and thoroughly reject any attempts to divide and destabilize it. It should, at the same time, steadily strengthen its ability of action in the international fora including the UN.
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Immortal Feats Performed for Non-Aligned Movement
Pyongyang, August 24 (KCNA) -- August 25 observes the 32nd anniversary of the admission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea into the Non-Aligned Movement.
The Korean people take this opportunity to recollect the immortal exploits performed by President Kim Il Sung for the strengthening and development of the Non-Aligned Movement.
The President, who regarded NAM as an independent political force which made its appearance in the arena of history in reflection of the requirement of the independent times, wisely led the movement so that it could take anti-imperialism and independence, anti-war and peace as its basic idea in its activities.
He participated in the function held to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Bandung Conference in April Juche 54 (1965) and conducted energetic activities for developing the NAM and strengthening the unity and solidarity among the Non-aligned and the developing countries.
He visited Algeria, then chair-state of the NAM, in May 1975 and had talks and conversations with leaders of the country to clarify that in order to develop NAM, it is imperative for the non-aligned nations to adhere to the principle of independence in politics, self-supporting in economy and self-reliance in defence, unite politically and cooperate economically and technically with each other.
The Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of non-aligned countries held in Lima, Peru, in August 1975 decided unanimously to admit into NAM the DPRK which made a great contribution to the cause of global independence under the uplifted banner of anti-imperialism and independence.
The President poured his heart and soul into the development of the movement in his closing days.
He attended the Fourth Conference of the Ministers of Information of Non-aligned Countries held in Pyongyang in June 1993 and delivered a historic speech "Non-aligned Information Services Must Contribute to the People's Cause of Independence".
He in the speech clarified that NAM is in essence a movement for making the whole world democratic and independent, the movement should be continuously developed as long as there remain on the globe the dominationist forces which pursue domination, interference, aggression and plunder and it should be further expanded and strengthened as the main force for building a new world. He thus solved the problems arising in the strengthening and development of NAM.
For his feats, the President was lauded as the "great leader of the world revolution" and the "outstanding leader of the Non-Aligned Movement" by heads of states and governments of non-aligned and developing countries.
DPRK History Society Flays Japan's Fabrication of "Jongmi Seven-Point Treaty"
Pyongyang, July 23 (KCNA) -- The Japanese reactionaries, seized with the wild ambition to realize overseas expansion, are now resorting to the shameless moves to embellish their crime-woven history of Korean aggression and justify and legalize it, far from sincerely admitting, apologizing and compensating for it.
The History Society of the DPRK issued a memorandum on July 23 in this regard in which it discloses how the "Jongmi Seven-Point Treaty", one of the "treaties" the "legality" of which is still asserted by the Japanese reactionaries, was fabricated and how Japan forced Korea to disband its army.
The memorandum recalls that Japan, to begin with, forced King Kojong to abdicate from the throne and fabricated the above-said treaty, adding that this was a prelude to its operation to completely annex Korea to Japan.
The memorandum goes on: The Japanese imperialists calculated that it was necessary to dethrone Kojong, first of all, in order to create conditions favorable for bringing under their control the right of Korea to administer internal affairs and annexing Korea to Japan in the future and, on this basis, began carrying out this scenario from the beginning of 1907.
On May 22, 1907, Hirobumi Ito met King Kojong and forced him to appoint Ri Wan Yong, a vicious pro-Japanese traitor, as head of the government of Korea. Then he forced Korea to take a swift retrogressive measure of introducing a "Cabinet system", drastically cutting down the power of the King and sharply increasing instead the power of the Cabinet with a view to building a mechanism whereby the pro-Japanese Cabinet could stand against King Kojong.
It was against this backdrop that there happened an incident in the Hague in June 1907 in which Ri Jun, emissary of Korean King Kojong, disemboweled himself at the Second International Peace Conference in protest against the Japanese imperialists' gangster-like aggression of Korea that stunned the world. They took this as the best chance to dethrone King Kojong and put the right of Korea to administer the internal under their complete control.
On July 7 Hirobumi Ito sent a message to the foreign minister of Japan in which he urged the need for the Japanese government to hold a discussion and make a decision at an early date on the issue of concluding a "treaty" for depriving Korea of its right to administer its internal affairs "in a legitimate manner." On July 10 the Japanese Cabinet thus adopted "Korea policy" aimed at usurping the above-said right of Korea and dethroning King Kojong.
Ito buckled down to forcing King Kojong to abdicate from the throne, to begin with.
At his instigation pro-Japanese stooges held a Cabinet meeting on July 16 at which they decided to dethrone King Kojong, holding him responsible for the above-mentioned incident, before informing the king of the decision.
Finding it hard to stand the persistent threat, blackmailing and pressure from the Japanese imperialists and pro-Japanese traitors, the king on July 19 was compelled to stamp his seal on a "royal edict" to the effect that "the crown prince shall take his place to handle military and state affairs," prompted by the desire to regain the throne in the future. This, however, was not the "royal edit" on transferring the throne.
The brazen-faced Japanese imperialists forced Korea to stage a ceremony of transferring the throne to Crown Prince Sunjong on July 20, asserting that Kojong's "royal edict" was the "royal edict" on abdication.
The king, under the pressure of the Japanese imperialists and pro-Japanese stooges, handed over a "royal edict" to the effect that the temporary title of Sunjong shall be replaced by the title of king on July 22.
This was how King Kojong was completely dethroned.
The crafty Japanese imperialists then started concocting a "treaty" aimed at depriving Korea of the right to administer its internal affairs as the next phase of their scenario to occupy Korea, as they pleased.
Pro-Japanese traitors held a Cabinet meeting where they all consented to a draft "treaty" proposed by the Japanese imperialists. The criminal "Jongmi Seven-Point Treaty" was formally signed between Ito and Ri Wan Yong.
The conclusion of the "treaty" which stipulated basic rights such as direct command, supervision and control by the resident-general provided the Japanese imperialists with a "legal groundwork" for formally and completely depriving Korea of the right to administer its internal affairs.
Ito and Ri Wan Yong also "signed" a confidential document for the thorough implementation of the treaty in the wake of its signing on July 24.
In this document the Japanese imperialists stipulated provisions calling for setting up new courts and jails under their control and disbanding the Korean army for the purpose of harshly suppressing the anti-Japanese struggle of the Korean people. This document also stipulated that Japanese "advisers" in the feudal government of the Ri Dynasty should be replaced by Japanese to hold national and local administrative posts.
This was, in fact, an evil document aimed at completely bringing down the Ri Dynasty and a false and fraudulent one without any legal validity like the "Jongmi Seven-Point Treaty."
From the viewpoint of international law, any treaty dealing with such important issues as the transfer of a state's right to administer internal affairs should be discussed and inked by the person with full mandate given by the head of state. But there is no evidence proving that they were given such mandate.
The "Jongmi Seven-Point Treaty" is an illegal document as it was signed between the government of the Ri Dynasty which had no right to conclude any treaty, being deprived of its diplomatic right under the "Ulsa Five-Point Treaty," and the "resident-general" having neither mandate nor qualifications to sign any treaty.
Strictly speaking, the "Jongmi Seven-Point Treaty" faked up between the Ri Dynasty without any diplomatic right and Japan, which deprived the former of the right, was a false document which lacked any validity because it was not a document made between the two sides but was unilaterally fabricated by Japan.
The memorandum recalls facts that the Japanese imperialists abolished King Kojong's prerogative of supreme command over the Korean army, comprehensively cut down the number of institutions and strength of the Korean regular army and, furthermore, forcibly disbanded the army, the core of the national power of Korea.
It continues: In a bid to deprive the Korean king of the prerogative of supreme command the Japanese imperialists pressurized King Kojong under the pretext of "advisory politics" to release a "royal order" on the "reform of military system" aimed at destabilizing the coordinated system of command over the military forces with the Russo-Japanese war in 1904 as a momentum.
Early in 1905 just before depriving Korea of her sovereignty the Japanese imperialist aggressors hatched a plot to drastically cut down the strength of the Korean army for fear that the armed forces of Korea might have been turned into an organized force including the anti-Japanese volunteer army for the anti-Japanese resistance of the Korean people.
After taking such step the Japanese imperialists systematically posted 62 officers and noncommissioned officers of the Japanese army in every branch of the Korean army till May 1907, putting not only the right to command the units but also the every move of Korean servicepersons under their strict watch and control.
The Japanese imperialists were so cunning as to fabricate a legal "justification" for the disbandment of the Korean army.
The first step in this respect was to issue the "royal edict" on the disbandment of the army.
The original of this "royal edict" in Japanese was discovered in Japan long ago. The results of the examination of the style involved in writing it proved that the edict was written by Resident-General Hirobumi Ito himself.
But the Japanese imperialists let the "royal edict" known throughout Korea by publishing it in the August 1 issue of "Kwanbo" which claimed that the disbandment of the Korean army would be carried out by the order of the king.
After laying a siege to the Korean army, disarming and disbanding it by the force of a false legal mechanism, the Japanese imperialist aggressors held a ceremony of disbanding the army.
Japan has incessantly committed aggression against Korea century after century since the Japanese pirates' invasion at the end of the Koryo Dynasty 800 years ago.
Japan would be well advised to behave itself, well aware that the Korean nation today is not what used to be in the past, and make an honest apology and compensation for the crimes it committed against the Koreans.
Social Scientists Assail "Jongmi Seven-Point Treaty"
Pyongyang, July 23 (KCNA) -- A seminar in the field of social science was held Monday on the occasion of the centenary of the Japanese imperialists' fabrication of the "Jongmi Seven-Point Treaty" and their forcible disbandment of the Korean army.
The seminar heard 5 papers explaining and proving how the Japanese imperialists fabricated the "Jongmi Seven-Point Treaty" and the illegality of the treaty and the crimes they committed by forcibly disbanding the Korean army and the struggle of the Korean people against it.
Prof. and Dr. Jo Hui Sung, director of an institute of the Academy of Social Sciences, in his paper noted that the above-said treaty fabricated by the Japanese imperialists on July 24, 1907 clearly shows the gangster-like nature, shamelessness and craftiness of the Japanese imperialism, adding that it can be fully proved by the historical fact that they dethroned King Kojong with the "incident of emissary in the Hague" as a momentum.
Dr. and Associate Prof. Kim Un Thaek, head of a department of Kim Il Sung University, explained the aggressive nature of the above-said treaty which "legally" provided for completely depriving Korea of the right to administer its internal affairs and aimed at bringing down the Ri Dynasty.
Noting that the above-said treaty is an illegal fraudulent document from the viewpoint of international law, Dr. Hong Chol Hwa, director of an institute of the Academy of Social Sciences, stressed that it was illegal as it was fabricated by those disqualified to conclude any international treaty and those who lacked any mandate given by the state.
It is needless to say that the Japanese imperialists' act of depriving Korea of the right to administer its internal affairs was an act of aggression from A to Z and there was no legal ground for Japan to "annex" Korea to Japan and establish a colonial rule over it on its basis.
Master Jegal Myong, teacher at Kim Hyong Jik University of Education, cited historical facts to disclose in detail that after the fabrication of the "Jongmi Seven-Point Treaty" the Japanese imperialists resorted to more mean and conspiratorial methods to forcibly disband the Korean army.
He noted that the Japanese imperialists' forced disbandment of the
Korean army was the final outcome of their premeditated, illegal and unilateral moves to neutralize the military power of Korea.
Prof. and Dr. Han Hung Song, vice-rector of the University of Politics of the Ministry of People's Security, referred to the nation-wide anti-Japanese struggle of the Korean people against the above-said treaty and the forced disbandment of the Korean army.
He stressed that the struggle taught a bitter lesson that the nationwide struggle to defend the sovereignty of the country and protect the independence can emerge victorious only when it is guided by the prominent leader capable of leading the struggle to victory, the importance is attached to the military affairs and the military power is bolstered.
GNP Denounced for Falsifying Truth of Grand Festival for National Reunification
Pyongyang, June 23 (KCNA) -- It was entirely due to the Grand National Party of south Korea that the grand festival for national reunification to mark the 7th anniversary of the June 15 joint declaration held in Pyongyang underwent difficulties. But the GNP is busy floating misinformation falsifying the truth of the festival.
The Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland says this in information bulletin No. 931 released on June 22.
The GNP has stood against the June 15 joint declaration and hamstrung its implementation, describing June 15 as a "day of national humiliation" and calling for the repeal of the joint declaration, the bulletin recalled, and continued: Moreover, it had neither justification nor qualification nor face to participate in the festival as it did not join the south side committee for implementing the June 15 joint declaration as a political party.
The north side committee for implementing the June 15 joint declaration, foreseeing that the GNP's participation in the recent festival would only lay an obstacle in its way, repeatedly clarified its principled stand of refusing its participation in the festival and sent a notice to the south side.
Nevertheless, the GNP made its way into the festival in the name of "guests to the festival", though uninvited, and promised in advance that it would take part in it strictly in its private capacity. Guys from the GNP, however, obstinately insisted that they should be invited to sit in the first row of the platform party as "representatives of the party dominating the south Korean National Assembly," breaking their earlier promise. They thus persistently tried to scuttle the meeting for national unity, the main event of the festival.
It was the calculation of the GNP that the successful holding of the festival and the growing atmosphere supporting the June 15 joint declaration would be absolutely unfavorable for itself at a time when "the presidential elections" are drawing near. For this reason, the GNP let its members join the south side delegation in a bid to create difficulties in the work of the festival. Everything would have gone well during the festival, had those lawmakers from the GNP stayed calm and withdrawn their insistence. They, however, insisted on their claim to the last moment.
Worse still, those legislators went the lengths of prattling that when they go back to the south, "they would be welcomed as heroes who have scuttled the festival".
All these facts clearly prove before the nation that if the GNP is allowed to meddle in the inter-Korean movement for reunification, it would bring every undertaking to a bankruptcy though it had been expected to be successful and in case it is allowed to come to power, it would drive the inter-Korean relations to a collapse and only make the atmosphere of confrontation and tension prevail in the Korean Peninsula.
KCNA Blasts Japan's Military Moves for Preemptive Attack
Pyongyang, May 15 (KCNA) -- Japan is escalating its military threat to the DPRK and other countries of the region.
During their recent trip to the U.S., Japan Defense Minister Kyuma and former Director General of the Japan Defense Agency Nukaga vociferated about the need for Japan to boost cooperation with the U.S. as regards the Missile Defense System (MD), reexamine constitutionally banned "right to collective self-defense" and secure capacity to attack missile bases of enemies to cope with ballistic missile attack, while raising a hue and cry over "threat" from someone.
As already reported, Japan recently deployed PAC-3 in the vicinity of Tokyo a year earlier than scheduled and plans to deploy more of those missiles in its different parts in a few years to come.
These bellicose remarks timed to coincide with the start of the operation of MD in the wake of the deployment of PAC-3 are very dangerous developments suggesting that Japan is now only watching for a chance to preempt attacks on the DPRK and other countries of the region in collusion with the U.S.
The Japanese reactionaries have already departed from the principle calling on the "Self-Defense Forces" to perform the mission of exclusive defence of their islands as they have long dreamed of reinvasion in a bid to revenge for Japan's defeat in World War II.
The SDFs' defence conception, military hardware and system are now assuming preemptive offensive nature according to a scenario of integration with the U.S. forces and taking on the perfect appearance as part of the U.S.-led coalition forces for world domination.
A major purpose sought by Japan in developing and deploying MD together with the U.S. is to mount a preemptive attack under the pretext of "threats" from its neighbors. The offensive nature of Japan can never change whether it uses MD as a shield or a sword.
The joint missile defense system of Japan and the U.S. means, in essence, a joint missile offensive system.
The above-said MD of such offensive and aggressive nature is sparking off deep concern among many countries in Asia and other parts of the world.
The war history in the 20th century clearly showed what a miserable end Japan's rash act had brought to the militarists who went arrogant, seized by hysteria of overseas expansion.
The present ruling forces of Japan had better draw a historical lesson before gambling over the destiny of the country.
KCNA Blasts Japan's Nasty Behavior to Derail Six-party Talks
Pyongyang, March 30 (KCNA) -- The chief executive and other politicians of Japan let loose a spate of balderdash over the action taken to defreeze the DPRK's funds at Banco Delta Asia in a bid to throw a hurdle in the way of the six-party talks.
Taking issue with the DPRK over its principled stand on the above-said measure, Abe impertinently blustered that "such attitude would get north Korea nowhere".
He, insisting on the "abduction issue" which has nothing to do with the agenda of the talks, threatened that Japan would not participate in "energy aid" to the DPRK.
The DPRK dismisses this as nothing but a nasty attempt of the Japanese politicians to derail the talks come what may, displeased with the progress made there.
Its participation in the talks or wish to see a satisfactory solution to the issue of defreezing its funds at the bank are not intended to get something from someone or to receive any aid.
As clarified by the DPRK more than once, its purpose is to realize the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and have its right to the legal funds regained.
Japan is behaving so at a time when the world public and the countries concerned are becoming more vocal in calling for creating an environment for the resumption of the talks. Its behavior cannot be construed otherwise than a wrong deed of a political dwarf.
No wonder, AFP, quoting an official of the U.S. State Department, said that at the department there is an atmosphere of commenting that Japan has gone too far.
It is the purpose of the six-party talks to denuclearize the peninsula and the economic and energy assistance to the DPRK promised by the participating countries in the Feb. 13 agreement is part of the projects to achieve the above-mentioned purpose.
As a matter of fact, Japan has neither qualification nor justification to participate in the talks. It cannot but be a big trouble-maker as it is behaving so badly after poking its nose into them.
Japan should be mindful that it will suffer bitterer disgrace and stand sidelined in the international community should it continue working mischievously instead of striving for the success of the talks and implementing the agreed points.
Japanese Authorities' Suppression of Chongryon and Koreans in Japan under Fire
Pyongyang, February 19 (KCNA) -A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry released a statement Monday in connection with the fact that the Japanese authorities' brutal suppression of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan and Koreans in Japan has reached an extremely grave phase.
The statement said: The Japanese authorities' noisy racket of suppressing Chongryon and Koreans in Japan has reached an extremely grave phase recently.
This crackdown upon the Chongryon organization got more reckless with their search operations against the Tokyo Metropolitan Headquarters of Chongryon and the Niigata Agency of the Office for Visits of Koreans to Their Homeland late in November last year as a momentum and it has gotten more brutal since the outset of the year.
The Japanese public security authorities mobilized hundreds of heavily armed policemen and even armed vehicles more than ten times till early in this month to carry out search operations against at least thirty Chongryon-related facilities including offices of Chongryon branches, Korean schools and houses of Koreans and perpetrated a series of such outrageous acts as assaulting and arresting them for no reason.
The Japanese authorities, at the same time, set in motion reptile media to float various kinds of false reports aimed at tarnishing the image of Chongryon in a bid to frantically incite bitterness towards the DPRK and Chongryon in the society.
This has created in various parts of Japan the same terror-ridden atmosphere reminiscent of operations for hunting Koreans as what prevailed during the great Kanto Quake and triggered off again the fascist tyranny through which the Japanese reactionaries forcibly dissolved the "Association of Koreans in Japan" half a century ago.
This brutal political suppression of Chongryon, a legitimate organization of overseas citizens of the dignified DPRK, and Koreans in Japan, members of the Korean nation, is an unpardonable infringement upon the sovereignty of our country and an unprecedented crime against humanity.
As far as the Koreans in Japan are concerned, they are victims who were forcibly taken to Japan in the past under the signboards of military service, forced labor, comfort women for the army and under other pretexts where they were subject to unlimited plunder, exploitation, slave labor and submission or their descendants. The Japanese authorities, are therefore under the historic and moral obligation to protect them.
Being a descendant of the war criminal, Abe is also to blame for the above-said crimes. He should have more honestly apologized for the crimes committed against the Koreans for several generations and more fully compensated for them than any others. He, however, has taken the lead in all the criminal anti-Chongryon campaigns in bid to destroy it during the tenure of his office. We cannot but take special note of this fact.
By getting ever more zealous in the frantic crackdown upon Chongryon, oblivious of his position and face of being "prime minister" Abe seeks to make his "cabinet appear hard-line" in a bid to save his short-sighted hard-line diplomacy from failure and stop his support rate from declining and thus wrest a sort of "concession" from the DPRK. It is nothing but a daydream to try to gratify his political greed in such a mean way.
The service persons and people of the DPRK will never remain a passive onlooker to the Japanese authorities' outrageous suppression of Chongryon and Koreans in Japan. The Abe group will have to pay dearly for this.
Kim Jong-il's military-first policy a silver bullet
By Dr. Kim Myong Chol
The military-first policy, now in its 12th year, is a well-known international symbol for Kim Jong-il and his Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Twelve years may be sufficient for a report card. A look at what Kim has done during that time indicates beyond doubt that this policy has been a silver bullet.
Kim officially launched the military-first policy on January 1, 1995. The DPRK has built up such a nuclear deterrence that it does not need any form of US security guarantee any longer. As the nuclear test last October 9 demonstrated, the DPRK is now a de jure nuclear-weapons state, the fourth-most-powerful after the United States, Russia and China.
Not to recognize the DPRK as a nuclear state is something like refusing to call a person armed with a gun a gunman.
On September 9, the founding anniversary of the DPRK, Dr Mitchell B Reiss, former director for policy planning at the US State Department and currently vice provost for international affairs at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, spoke at the fourth Global Strategic Review of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies:
Perhaps the least noted and most astonishing aspect of the entire diplomatic process involving North Korea during the past few years has been the almost complete inability of four of the world's strongest military and economic powers, including three nuclear-weapons states and three members of the UN Security Council - the United States, China and Russia - and Japan to shape the strategic environment in Northeast Asia. They have [proved] thoroughly incapable of preventing an impoverished, dysfunctional country of only 23 million people from consistently endangering the peace and stability of the world's most economically dynamic region. This has been nothing less than a collective failure.
While international-relations theorists can debate how this remarkable reversal of the standard measures of power and powerlessness could occur, North Korea's gains have come at the expense, not least, of the United States. Washington has suffered setbacks to its major policy objectives in the region and globally.
Achievement 1: Neutralization of US nuclear umbrella
One of the 5,000-year-old aspirations of the Korean people is to acquire powerful national defenses equipped with long-range deep-strike capabilities of hitting the enemy's heartland and turning it into a sea of fire, instead of letting Korea become a war theater. For the first time in Korean history, Kim Jong-il has fulfilled this historic aspiration as he has put the Korean Peninsula under North Korea's own nuclear umbrella, neutralizing the US nuclear umbrella.
In other words, North Korea under Kim has emerged as a de jure nuclear-weapons state with deep-strike capabilities, making it totally unnecessary to seek written US security assurances. The risk of war has begun to disappear from the Korea Peninsula as Kim is now one click away from torching the skyscrapers of New York and other cities in the metropolitan USA or Tokyo into scenes of towering conflagrations. Dangun Wanggeom, Jumong, Yon Kyesomun, Ulchi Mundok and Li Sun-sin would be delighted at the great feat of Kim Jong-il. Any new war involving Korea is certain to be waged mainly on the US mainland or Japan.
As a result of the US invasion of Iraq, civilian casualties are numerous and material losses are beyond description. Thus the US thinks twice before striking the DPRK. The US is afraid of engaging North Korea after its missile and nuclear tests.
The United Nations sanctions imposed on the DPRK for conducting missile tests and a nuclear test have lost much of their effect.
In an article titled "Too soft, too soon", the major British newspaper The Financial Times noted on November 22:
Christopher Hill, Washington's chief negotiator for North Korea, declared boldly that the world was not going to live with a nuclear North Korea. These now look like empty words. Amid the turmoil in the Middle East, the attempts to curb another nuclear program - this one in Iran - and the change of power in the US Congress after the mid-term elections, the North Korean threat has been all but forgotten.
The host of Japan's Asahi TV program Saturday Scramble aired on December 2 lamented, "Regrettably, the things are moving in a way Kim Jong-il desires."
The Washington Post in its December 31 editorial noted: "At the time the regime of Kim Jong-il appeared to be calculating that it would not suffer severe consequences for its provocation and that the world would eventually accept it as a nuclear power, as India and Pakistan have been accepted. Sadly, that logic is beginning to look justified."
Joseph Nye, former US assistant secretary of defense and currently dean of the Kennedy School of Administration, Harvard University, noted in his contribution to the March 12, 2003, Los Angeles Times:
The decision to focus on Iraq rather than North Korea shows that deterrence works, but in this case what it shows is North Korea's ability to deter the United States. With more than 11,000 artillery tubes hidden in caves in the Demilitarized Zone, North Korea can devastate Seoul even without weapons of mass destruction. This reality prevented the Clinton administration from executing a preemptive strike against North Korea's nuclear facilities at Yongbyon in 1994.
The result is that now the people of the DPRK, who would have long ago gone mad after being exposed to more than 50 years of nuclear blackmail, have remained sane and are overflowing with confidence of prevailing over the US, and have rallied closer behind Kim Jong-il.
Achievement 2: Successful fight against isolation
Kim Jong-il's military-first policy has splendidly broken through the international isolation imposed on it by the US and made the Bush Doctrine of nuclear preemption senseless.
CNN last September 13 quoted former president Jimmy Carter saying: "And I also met with General Gary Luck, who was an American commander of all forces, South Korea, and American forces in South Korea. General Luck told me that his opinion was that more than a million people would be killed almost overnight if North Korea did respond to punishment of them. So I decided to go to North Korea."
North Korea put into orbit a satellite on August 31, 1998, three years after the launch of the military-first policy. The US responded with the Perry Report in October 1999, calling for North Korea to be accepted as it was. This prompted European countries to rush to seek ties with the DPRK despite its nuclear and missile programs.
The DPRK established diplomatic relations with Italy in January 2000, restored ties with Australia that May, restarted negotiations with Japan on establishing diplomatic relations in August, had General Cho Myong-rok sign the DPRK-US Joint Communique in October, saw US secretary of state Madeleine Albright visiting Pyongyang, established full diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Belgium in January 2001, Canada and Spain that February, Germany, Luxembourg, Greece, Brazil and New Zealand in March, Kuwait in April, Bahrain and the European Union in May, Turkey in June 2001 and Ireland in December 2003. The DPRK has a permanent delegation in Paris.
The DPRK has full diplomatic relations with Canada to the north of the US and with Mexico to its south. Those who refuse to have relations with the DPRK are only the US and Japan.
Achievement 3: Positive growth
According to conventional thinking, the North Korean economy is supposed to tail off and eventually fall apart under the weight of the military-first policy. All the country's foreign-currency revenues are supposed to be diverted to the military. Added to this are financial sanctions by the US and UN sanctions for the missile tests and the nuclear test. However, this is not the case.
The Korean People's Army (KPA), highly moralized, disciplined and equipped with nuclear weapons, keeps the US forces at bay, letting the North Korean population engage in economic, socio-cultural and sports activities without any worries about war. It is also playing a crucial role in pushing ahead with economic construction.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry acknowledges that the DPRK has continued to register positive growth rates since 1996, the year after the launch of the military-first policy. July 2002 saw introduction of landmark socialist-type market economic practices, adding spurs to the economic recovery.
Last September, the Citibank group presented an economic report on North Korea to US Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, noting: "North Korea's economic reforms are probably broadly comparable to those in China in the mid- to late 1980s. In some areas, such as foreign-exchange-rate policy, North Korea is probably already beyond the China of the early 1990s. Actual progress in economic reforms has been way beyond our expectations." It concludes that "a foundation is there" for North Korea to join its neighbors as rapidly growing tiger economies. This is why "a few pioneering economists, analysts and businessmen believe the regime is taking tentative steps towards building Asia's next tiger economy".
Particular mention should be made of the fact that while the Chinese succeeded in economic reforms only after normalization with the United States, the North Koreans have posted a dramatic economic recovery by means of the military-first policy, despite critical handicaps such as the continuing state of war with the US and sanctions imposed by the Americans.
Dr Kenneth Quinones notes in the September issue of Japan's authoritative monthly Sekai ("World"): "North Korea has grown economically and [militarily] much stronger than when [US President George W] Bush took over." The Associated Press reported on November 4: "In the midst of tensions over North Korea's nuclear program, a Western company is there searching for oil. Another just bought a bank."
Successes in national defense and the economy have led North Koreans to make impressive showings in international sports. In 1996, the year after the launch of the military-first policy, Kye Sun-hi won a gold medal in judo by overwhelming Japan's Tamura Ryoko. The North Korean female soccer team became the first Korean team ever to capture a world title in that sport.
Achievement 4: Virtual state of commuter marriage
For the first time in 55 years, the military-first policy helped Kim Jong-il bore a great hole in the 38th Parallel that the US had wielded the nuclear threat to draw, separating the soil of Dangun Korea into two. It resulted in great headway in North-South Korean rapprochement and a virtual state of commuter marriage and quasi-reunification for the first time since the August 1945 liberation of Korea from colonial rule.
The June 13-15, 2000, Pyongyang summit that ended with the June 15 Pyongyang Declaration was an obvious product of the military-first policy in that it was prompted by the Perry Report. Kim Jong-il's special envoy General Cho Myong-rok visited Washington and won the Bill Clinton administration's unequivocal endorsement of the Pyongyang Declaration.
At the Pyongyang summit it was decided to reconnect the railway lines across the Demilitarized Zone. The DMZ is divided into a northern 2-kilometer sector administered by the KPA and a southern 2km sector administered by the UN Command. In a bid to set up railway lines in the southern sector, the South Korean Command asked the UN Command temporarily to transfer administration of the southern sector, but in vain.
The South Koreans were on the verge of losing any competence in implementing the Pyongyang Declaration when the KPA intervened. A KPA officer met with a UN Command officer at a November 17, 2000, conference, and persuaded it to transfer the administration of the southern sector of the DMZ to the South Korean armed forces. It was an open secret that many South Korean officers praised the KPA intervention.
Fair Solution to Mideast Issue Called for
Pyongyang, November 13 (KCNA) -- The issue of Palestine and other Mideast issues should be fairly settled as required by the resolutions repeatedly adopted at the UN General Assembly sessions for several decades and international law on the basis of the agreement reached among member states under any circumstances. A DPRK representative clarified this stand during the discussion held on Nov. 8 on the "report of the Ad Hoc Committee for probing Israel's acts affecting the rights of the Palestinians in the occupied areas and other Arabs, " an agenda item of the meeting of the fourth Committee of the 61st UN General Assembly. The struggle of the Palestinians is a just struggle for recovering the usurped territories and winning back the right to national self-determination and vital right and the issue of Palestine is a regional and international matter directly linked with the issue of ensuring the Mideast peace, he noted, and went on to say:
A number of international measures have been taken to find a fair and peaceful settlement of the issue of Palestine and other Mideast issues but they have not been successfully implemented due to the expansionist policy and obstructions of the occupation forces.
What merits a more serious attention is that some forces are moving to delete items related to the Mideast from the agenda of the UN General Assembly as part of what they call UN reform in order to achieve their sinister aim to settle the above-said issues in their interests.
This is unjustifiable as it is in contravention of the common desire of the international community to find a solution to the issues in the interests of the Palestinians and other Arabs.
He reiterated the DPRK's firm solidarity with the Palestinians in their just struggle to win back their legitimate national rights and other Arab people in their efforts to find a fair solution to the Mideast issues.
R.O.K. Foots Bill for 'Strategic Flexibility'
U.S. military relocation plan expensive for Seoul
Rodong Sinmun on Songun Politics
Pyongyang, July 19 (KCNA) -- The Songun revolutionary line, the Songun politics of the Workers' Party of Korea is an independent line of the new century and a banner of all victories which makes it possible to foil all forms of domination, subjugation, aggression and war moves of the imperialists and reliably defend and materialize the independence of the popular masses, observes Rodong Sinmun Wednesday in an editorial article. Now that the imperialist reactionary forces have put forward the policy of strength as the major strategy for realizing their ambition for domination over the world, it is imperative to take the road of Songun in order to meet the popular masses' demand for independence and resolutely defend the basic interests of the nation, the article notes, and goes on:
Neither concession nor compromise can prevent the U.S. imperialists' moves for aggression and war as they are a product of the U.S. policy, which is turning extremely reactionary, and the serious crisis of its economy. To give priority to military affairs to increase the national capacity for self-defence and make political, military and material preparations to brave aggression by the U.S. imperialists, this is the most right way of defending the security and peace of the country and the nation.
The Songun politics is the great revolutionary line and the mode of struggle whose validity and might have been proven in the 80-odd year long glorious road of the Korean revolution.
It is the unshakable faith and will of the Korean army and people to foil the imperialists' aggression and war moves and accomplish the popular masses' cause of independence, the cause of socialism under the uplifted banner of Songun.
Korea is now becoming an epitome of worldwide fierce stand-off between socialism and imperialism and between independent forces and the reactionaries of history. The U.S. imperialists are spearheading their attack on the DPRK which is invariably holding high the banner of socialism. The Korean army and people, however, are full of pluck and they are firmly convinced of the victory of the socialist cause.
They will as ever advance under the uplifted banner of Songun that has brought the dignity and honor of the independent people and will not concede even a step in the path of struggle chosen by themselves until the final victory is won.
It is the invariable revolutionary stand of the Korean army and people to react to the imperialists' hard line with the toughest line.
The Songun politics of the DPRK which represents arms plus the do-or-die spirit will remain undeterred before any pressure, threat, sanctions and blockade by the U.S. imperialists.
The Korean army and people are overflowing with the spirit to destroy the fortress of aggression if the U.S. imperialists recklessly ignite a war. We will not show mercy to the arrogant and ferocious aggressors.
The Korean army and people will increase the national capacity for self-defence in every way and react to the enemies' hard line with the toughest line unless the U.S. imperialists renounce their hostile policy toward the DPRK. They have keenly realized in the crucible of the fierce anti-imperialist struggle that only Songun is a way out and it guarantees the nation's dignity. They will, therefore, more tightly hold arms and defend their ideology, system and cause at the cost of their lives under the WPK's Songun leadership.
It is the fixed will of the Korean army and people to strengthen the Songun revolutionary unity with the headquarters of the revolution as its core in every way.
No nuclear weapons can overwhelm the might of their single-minded unity with which all the army and people form a fortress as strong as an iron wall around Kim Jong Il in the spirit of devotedly defending the leader, the spirit of human bullets and the spirit of readily blowing up themselves.
They will unswervingly advance along the path of independence, the path of socialism under the banner of Songun in any storm and stress to eternally glorify the victorious history of the Korean revolution and actively contribute to.
Grand March for Reunification Called for
Pyongyang, June 15 (KCNA) -- Rodong Sinmun today dedicates an editorial to the 6th anniversary of the historic June 15 joint declaration, which urges all the Koreans in the north and the south and overseas to make a grand march for independent reunification under the uplifted banner of "By our nation itself". The daily says the last six years crowded with astounding changes in the national reunification movement under the banner of the joint declaration are shining as a record of patriotic devotion and outstanding leadership of Kim Jong Il.
It goes on: In the course of the struggle waged by the Koreans in the last six years under the banner, the Juche character of the reunification movement has become more pronounced and the tradition of the era of independent reunification has been established to be priceless assets for the accomplishment of the cause of reunification. This tradition is, so to speak, the tradition of "By our nation itself", the tradition of national independence.
It is the sum total of the past six years that the key to the accomplishment of the cause of reunification lies in shaping the destiny of the nation and waging the reunification movement independently, pooling the efforts of the Korean nation.
All the fellow countrymen should uphold and thoroughly carry into practice the noble tradition of "By our nation itself", the tradition of national independence, bearing in mind that the steadfast defence and positive application of it is the only way of adding shine to the era of independent reunification.
In resolving all the problems arising in the accomplishment of the reunification cause, the north and the south should firmly adhere to the stand of Juche of the nation.
All the Koreans in the north and the south and overseas should strengthen unity under the banner of the joint declaration as required by the times, transcending differences in idea and system, class and strata. It is important to further develop the movement for reunification in diverse forms and methods so that the atmosphere of reconciliation and cohesion may continue to surge into high tide within the nation. Guided by the idea of "By our nation itself," dialogue should be made and cooperation, exchange and mutual travel be promoted in such a manner as to help toward the achievement of genuine cohesion of the nation.
The desperate attempts of the pro-U.S. conservatives in south Korea to turn the trend of the era of national cohesion and independent reunification to confrontation, cringing to outside forces, must be smashed to smithereens.
All the Koreans should turn out as one man in the struggle against the aggression and war, domination and interference of the U.S. imperialists with do-or-die resolution and will.
The movement for independent reunification, peace against war and great national unity is a righteous patriotic struggle for the Koreans who are plagued with sufferings of national division and the danger of war.
All the Koreans should add fresh force to the trend of the era of the June 15 joint declaration for reunification by vigorously waging the three-point patriotic movement with extraordinary patriotic zeal and renewed determination.
U.S. and Japanese Plot-Breeding Organizations' Anti-DPRK Operation under Fire
Pyongyang, April 19 (KCNA) -- The people's security institution in the DPRK tasked to protect by law the socialist system, the life and soul of its people, tightly holding the arms for state security, is following with a high degree of vigilance all sorts of dastardly plots and operations of the enemy's intelligence and plot-breeding bodies against the DPRK. It will regard any involvement in them in any form as an infringement upon the sovereignty and security of the DPRK and force their perpetrators to pay a high price for their crimes. A spokesman for the DPRK Ministry of People's Security declared this in a statement issued Wednesday in connection with the fact that forces hostile to the DPRK including those in the U.S. and Japan are working hard to fabricate what they call "evidence" and "proofs" by employing every conceivable means and despicable method to brand the DPRK as a "criminal state" and "lawless state" over "human rights abuse", "drug smuggling" and "counterfeit notes."
The statement said: The CIA and plot-breeding organizations in Japan are working with blood-shot eyes to produce animation files aimed at attacking the DPRK after setting up organizations specializing in gathering photos and animation files related to the "human rights situation" and "drug and counterfeit notes" in the DPRK. They are now spending a colossal amount of fund for this operation.
In order to make the source of those information sound plausible, they are mass-producing video tapes and CDs for the above-said purpose even by use of animation processing technology on "makeshift stages" they have set up in the U.S. forces' bases in a third country and in south Korea. They are even manipulating the sale of such things behind the scene to mass media in the U.S., Japan and south Korea. Those media of the U.S. and Japan are reprocessing the animation files and photos obtained in a more sophisticated manner before airing and distributing them. The GNP and other right-wing conservative forces in south Korea, as if they had waited for the opportunity to come, are becoming zealous in using this information for deterring the inter-Korean relations from improving and realizing their ambition to return to power.
We have obtained the following shocking information: The CIA secretly enlist experts on counterfeiting notes claimed to be the "most sophisticated in the world" and invite them to issue lots of fake currencies at "counterfeit notes printing houses of north Korean-style" operating in U.S. military bases in different parts of the world. Then they let these notes find their ways to the DPRK and go out of it in the course of commercial transaction in a desperate bid to term it "producer of counterfeit notes." Such illegal practices on the part of the U.S. and the Japanese plot-breeding organizations are absolutely intolerable as they are shameless acts of defying elementary international law and a wanton violation of the sovereignty of the DPRK. The DPRK, too, has the right to strongly react to this vicious false propaganda launched by the hostile forces against it, according to its relevant law.
KCNA Blasts U.S. Insidious Move for Supremacy in Asia-Pacific
Pyongyang, March 27 (KCNA) -- The "trilateral security dialogue" of the United States, Japan and Australia took place in Sydney some days ago. The "dialogue", the first of its kind on the foreign minister-level, drew attention of the world public as it was an assembly of the U.S. and its allies.
The choice of Sydney as the venue of the "dialogue" can be explained by the on-going scramble of big powers to hold supremacy in Asia-Pacific and the geographical and military strategic importance of Australia.
In order to gain an unchallenged military edge in the region, the U.S. has pursued the strategy to contain China by laying a siege to it whereby to link the "triangular military alliance" of the U.S., Japan and south Korea, the "triangular relations" of the U.S., Japan and India and the "triangular alliance" of the U.S., Japan and Australia. As public opinions view, the "trilateral security dialogue" is a link in the chains of the strategy to contain China.
The main thrust of the U.S.-sponsored "dialogue" was to define China as the biggest "threat " to its strategy for world supremacy as China's influence is daily growing in the international arena politically and economically and label it "an undesirable force" in a bid to lay a foundation for building a military alliance aimed at implementing its policy for containing China.
Washington attempted to build a NATO type military bloc in the Asia-Pacific region and discussed the way of forming the "four-nation maritime alliance" by plugging even Britain into the "triangular alliance".
No wonder, there is growing concern that the "dialogue" was nothing but a move to knock into shape an alliance of big powers in the region and if it is allowed, it will scuttle the process of ASEAN dialogue and endanger the regional peace and security. A "joint statement" demanding north Korea unconditionally and immediately return to the six-party talks was adopted at the "dialogue" and the U.S. attempted to establish a cooperation system against the DPRK with the "dialogue" as leverage. This compels the DPRK to heighten vigilance against them.
This goes to prove that the above-said "dialogue" was a meeting to form the U.S.-led "tripartite security consultative mechanism" in the region and deter the DPRK and China.
What should not be overlooked is the fact that Japan is busy with shuttle diplomacy to establish the "triangular framework", a new Cold War-type alliance the U.S. is keen to form in Asia-Pacific.
Japan is deeply involved in the U.S. strategic moves to use the former as a lever for establishing its domination over the region and a shock force for invading East Asia. In the first few months of the year alone the U.S. advanced a series of "triangular framework" proposals including "trilateral dialogue and security cooperation framework" grouping the U.S., India and Japan.
The fact that Japan is involved in the U.S. stepped-up "triangular military alliance," "triangular relations" and "triangular alliance" clearly indicates what phase its consciousness of toeing the U.S. line has reached.
Lurking behind this behavior of Japan is a foolish attempt to emerge a military power with the U.S. backing at any cost and hold supremacy in Asia-Pacific. Japan used to cite "threat from north Korea" to justify its moves to turn itself into a military power.
Nowadays it is raising a hue and cry over "threats from north Korea and from China" and vociferating about the need to bolster up its armed forces to cope with those threats. The above-said "threats" touted by Japan are nothing but a subterfuge to step up its moves to convert it into a military giant and hold supremacy in Asia and thus realize its old dream of " the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere". The above-said moves of Japan are nothing but reckless acts to strain the situation in Asia and spark off a fresh arms race.
There is a military alliance between the U.S. and Japan and between the U.S. and Australia. Japan and Australia dispatched their troops to Iraq and are involved in the PSI.
In case the "trilateral security dialogue" is put on a regular basis, there is no guarantee that it will not lead to the formation of a "triangular military alliance." It is as clear as noonday that this development will embolden Japan in its moves for continental aggression.
Japan's ambition for hegemony is arousing high caution among the Asians.
China's Principled Stand Supported
Pyongyang, March 4 (KCNA) --The Korean people are extending positive support and firm solidarity with the Chinese people in their efforts to achieve the complete reunification of the country, strongly opposed to "independence of Taiwan". Rodong Sinmun Saturday observes this in a signed commentary. The Korean people remain unshakable in their stand of opposing the anti-reunification moves of the secessionist forces advocating "independence of Taiwan" and supporting the just cause of the Chinese people, the commentary notes.
Recalling that the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council of China issued a statement on Feb. 28 condemning those secessionists for escalating their moves against reunification after Chen Shui-Bian, "president" of Taiwan, declared the cease of the function of the "National Unification Council" and the application of the "National Unification Guidelines", it goes on:
It is well-known to everyone that the Chinese party and government have made tireless and sincere efforts to get Taiwan, part of the inalienable territory of China, returned to the mainland of China and thus achieve the reunification of the whole country in keeping with the aspiration and desire of the cross-straits people for the reunification of the country and this is commanding understanding and sympathy from the international community.
The Taiwan secessionists took the above-mentioned step with a sinister political aim to step up their campaign for the "independence of Taiwan" at a time when the cross-straits relations are favorably developing and a favorable circumstance is being created for the Chinese people's cause of national reunification thanks to the initiative and sincere efforts of the Chinese party and government. This is a criminal move intended to chill the desire to develop the cross-straits relations and disturb peace and stability in this region and a grave challenge to the desire and efforts of the Chinese people to achieve the reunification of the country.
The Chinese people's cause of national reunification is just and it is, therefore, sure to be accomplished thanks to the positive struggle and efforts of the Chinese party, government and people.