BomMinRyon Activities
North Side Committee for Implementing June 15 Joint Declaration Meets
Pyongyang, January 31 (KCNA) -- A general meeting of the North Side Committee for Implementing the June 15 Joint Declaration was held here on Tuesday.
The meeting discussed an issue of opening a landmark phase for independent reunification this year.
Kim Ryong Song, chairman of the North Side Committee for Implementing the June 15 Joint Declaration, in his report said that leader Kim Jong Il's history of his leadership for national reunification was a glorious revolutionary history recorded with immortal exploits, adding that the north and the south could greet a new era of independent reunification thanks to north-south summits and the June 15 joint declaration.
He referred to the fact that the Lee Myung Bak group of traitors' moves to escalate the confrontation threw a stumbling block in the way of national reunification, adding that it is the firm stand of the DPRK to finally settle accounts with it which rubbed salt into the wounds of the compatriots struck with grief over the great loss to the nation and staged saber-rattling against them.
Then followed speeches.
An appeal to all the Koreans at home and abroad was adopted at the meeting.
The appeal said:
All fellow countrymen at home and abroad should unite close under the banner of patriotism irrespective of ideology, political view and religion and make a clean sweep of the anti-reunification forces.
Whoever values the future of oneself and one's family and is concerned about the destiny and future of the Korean nation should come out in a struggle for averting a war and defending peace.
The North Side Committee for Implementing the June 15 Joint Declaration proposes compatriots in the north and the south and abroad to meet and open common reunification events of the nation with splendor on the occasions of the 12th anniversary of the publication of the June 15 joint declaration and the 5th anniversary of the publication of the Oct. 4 declaration to promote reconciliation and unity of the nation and bring about a decisive turn in accomplishing the cause of national reunification this significant year.
It also proposes holding reunification gatherings and conducting more brisk solidarity activities among organizations of people of various strata and those in various fields in the north and the south this year.
The above-said committee ardently calls once again upon all the fellow countrymen at home and abroad to unite close under the banner of the north-south joint declaration and more dynamically turn out in the national reunification movement, bearing deep in mind the patriotic mission they have assumed before the era and the nation and thus make a breakthrough towards independent reunification this year without fail.
Present there were Honorary Co-Chairpersons of the committee Yang Hyong Sop, vice-president of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, Ro Tu Chol, vice-premier, Kim Yong Dae, chairman of the C.C., the Korean Social Democratic Party, and Ryu Mi Yong, chairwoman of the C.C., the Chondoist Chongu Party, the chairman, vice-chairpersons and members of the committee, members of its various sub-committees, members of the North Headquarters of the Pan-national Alliance for Korea's Reunification and the Pan-national Alliance of Youth and Students for Korea's Reunification and officials concerned.
Joint New Year Editorial
Pyongyang, January 1 (KCNA) -- Rodong Sinmun, Joson Inmingun and Chongnyon Jonwi, leading newspapers of the DPRK, on Sunday published a joint editorial "Glorify this year 2012 as a year of proud victory, a year when an era of prosperity is unfolding, true to the instructions of the great General Kim Jong Il".
The full text of the editorial is as follows:
Having seen out the year 2011 in bitter tears of blood, the service personnel and people of Korea are now seeing in the New Year Juche 101 (2012).
It was a long-standing tradition of our people to extend best wishes for good health to the great leader Kim Jong Il on every New Year's Day and set out on the advance of that year. His august name and benevolent image were a banner of victory that instilled in our people confidence in sure victory and will to achieve it and a source of their mental strength. Now our service personnel and people, turning the great sorrow into one-thousand-fold strength and courage, are embarking on a grand march towards the goal of achieving prosperity in the new century of the Juche era, following the leadership of their supreme leader Kim Jong Un.
That we parted too suddenly and unexpectedly with the great leader Kim Jong Il last year was the greatest loss our nation had suffered in its 5 000-year-long history and the bitterest grief our Party and people had experienced.
The great Kim Jong Il was an outstanding ideologist and theoretician, peerless veteran statesman and brilliant Songun commander who led the revolutionary cause of Juche along the road of victory by dint of his profound ideas and theories and unexcelled leadership, and a great patriot and the benevolent father of the people, who dedicated his revolutionary life entirely to his country and his people. Thanks to his leadership our nation has greeted a golden age of its prosperity unprecedented in its 5 000-year-long history; the Juche idea and the Songun idea, the immortal ideas authored by President Kim Il Sung, have become the ideas guiding the era of independence, the revolutionary traditions of Paektu have been resolutely defended, and the might of our Party, army and country has attained the highest level.
When our revolution was undergoing worst trials and hardships, he steadfastly safeguarded the gains of socialism, valuable heritage the President had bequeathed, and consolidated the political, military and economic foundations for achieving prosperity for all the generations to come; this is shining as the greatest of his achievements in the revolutionary cause of Juche.
Having keenly felt how great the leader, whom they had upheld as the sun of the nation and their father in making the revolution, was, our service personnel and people are now filled with a firm determination to carry through his lifetime intentions and cause.
Last year was a year of victory, featured by radical changes and leap forward taken place in the building of a prosperous and powerful nation under the energetic leadership of Kim Jong Il.
It was an ennobling intention of Kim Jong Il to celebrate the centenary of the birth of President Kim Il Sung as the most auspicious and significant event, which would solemnly declare the victory in the Songun-based great upsurge. In order to bring about a proud victory in 2012, he displayed super-human energy in leading the all-people advance. He continued his on-site guidance tours, up until the last moments of his revolutionary life, to major fronts of the building of a thriving nation, the army posts at the front line and various other parts of the country, thus bringing the 100-year history of the Juche era resplendent with great victories and changes to a close.
Last year significant achievements were made in the great upsurge for improving the people's standard of living, and solid foundations laid for building the country into an economic giant in the 21st century.
Under the great General's tireless leadership, the torch of the industrial revolution in the new century was kindled and our national economy has entered the stage of building a powerful country with the knowledge-based economy. The Huichon Power Station and other monumental edifices to be dedicated to the grand festival in 2012 are being set up in many parts of the country, and the flames of Hamnam, the banner of a fresh grand march, are flaring up fiercely. Amidst the great upsurge for improving the people's standard of living, many light-industry factories were renovated and modern livestock and fish-farming bases and large-size fruit-farming bases, prototypes of their kinds in the new century, were built in various parts of the country; these are great products born of our Party's strategy for achieving prosperity. Today we are confident in saying that we, with a great pride in being a victor, are at the epochal point of opening the gates of a thriving country.
The overall appearance of the country has been transformed to be appropriate for a thriving country. True to the far-reaching plan of Kim Jong Il, building up Pyongyang into a world-class city has been undertaken full steam, and Ryongnim, Taehung, Hoeryong and many other parts have been turned into socialist fairylands. Monumental works of performing arts, like the drama "We Will Recollect Today", which represents the art and literature in the Songun era, have been created one after another, and a new golden age of the mass-based arts has been ushered in.
Last year witnessed the demonstration on an ennobling high of the traits of our people who are ready to take the road of the revolution to the end following the great Party.
The situation was tense and complicated, yet the sentiments of our people who were keeping in step with their leader in onward advance remained unstained and invariable.
The period of mourning over the death of the great Kim Jong Il proved that the ties between him and his people sealed in aspiration and emotion are eternal and unbreakable. The tears our service personnel and people shed with greatest sorrow were tears of the unity, unaffected and crystal-clear, and tears of their firm determination to follow the Party to the end of the earth. The ideological and mental virtue of our people, who are possessed of the most ennobling sense of moral obligation, makes the enemy tremble with terror and strikes the rest of the world with admiration.
As long as there are the Party, army and state, which Kim Jong Il developed to be invincible, as long as Kim Jong Un, successor to the revolutionary cause of Juche, leads us sagaciously and as long as there is an excellent people who support their leaders faithfully through generations, the cause of building a thriving country is sure to emerge victorious?-this is an iron truth inscribed in our hearts as we set out on a fresh march.
This year, Juche 101 (2012), is the year when Kim Jong Il's plan for achieving prosperity will bear a brilliant fruit, and the year of a grand march, when a new century of Kim Il Sung's Korea begins.
The march in the new century of the Juche era is the continuation of the revolutionary march that started up on Mt. Paektu. Steadfast is the will of our service personnel and people to adorn our revolution, pioneered by Kim Il Sung and whose victory after victory they won following Kim Jong Il, with eternal victory following the leadership of Kim Jong Un. The guide of hope in the march in the new century is the great revolutionary ideas of the great persons of Mt. Paektu, and the treasured swords for sure victory are the courageous mettle of the brilliant commanders of Paektu and their way of offensive. We must follow to the end the road of independence, the road of Songun and the road to socialism pioneered by Kim Il Sung, so as to ensure that the history of revolutionary activities of Kim Il Sung and the history of Songun-based revolutionary leadership of Kim Jong Il continue without interruption.
The centenary of the birth of Kim Il Sung is a major, important occasion for displaying the might of Korea, which is advancing bravely towards the world standards, and a grand revolutionary festival, which will demonstrate the steadfast continuity of the revolution in Korea, which stoutly carries forward one ideology and one bloodline. We must glorify this year as a year of grand general march for inheriting the history of great upsurge generation after generation under the leadership of the great guide, the Workers¡¯ Party of Korea.
Today we are faced with the important task of scaling without fail the historical-stage targets of 2012 true to the lifetime instructions of General Kim Jong Il. By registering a brilliant success in this year's struggle for opening the gates of a thriving country, we must enter a new, high stage of building a thriving socialist country in an all-round way.
"Glorify this year 2012 as a year of proud victory, a year when an era of prosperity is unfolding, true to the instructions of the great General Kim Jong Il!"?-this is the militant slogan the whole Party, the entire army and all the people should uphold this year.
We must increase our political and ideological might, the might of our unity, to the maximum.
The first and foremost national power of Kim Il Sung's Korea was, is and will be the might of ideology and unity. The year 2012 is a year of single-minded unity, a year of burning loyalty, when our political and ideological might which has been consolidated generation after generation following the great leaders and the great Party, will be given full play.
Our people are all the descendants of Kim Il Sung who inherited his ideas and cause, and the soldiers and followers of Kim Jong Il. We must demonstrate to the whole world the noble outlook on morality we have cherished as we have the peerlessly great men as our eternal fathers and teachers. We should fully display our loyalty in greeting the centenary of the birth of President Kim Il Sung with high political and ideological enthusiasm and brilliant feats of labor.
The revolutionary achievements and behests of the great Kim Jong Il are the lifeline we should hold fast to forever and the eternal precious assets of the revolution. We should staunchly defend the revolutionary heritage bequeathed by Kim Jong Il, whatever the storm and stress. It is the steadfast determination of our Party that it will make no slightest vacillation and concession in implementing the instructions and policies he had laid out in his lifetime and that it will allow no change in this process. We should maintain a thoroughgoing view that the road to socialism which Kim Il Sung had pioneered and Kim Jong Il had led along is the most correct choice and the principled stand that we will defend the people-centred socialism of our own style however others may say what.
We must develop our single-minded unity without interruption into the solidest one which is carried forward generation after generation. Kim Jong Un, the supreme leader of our Party and our people, is the banner of victory and glory of Songun Korea and the eternal centre of its unity. The dear respected Kim Jong Un is precisely the great Kim Jong Il. The whole Party, the entire army and all the people should possess a firm conviction that they will become human bulwarks and human shields in defending Kim Jong Un unto death, and follow the great Party for ever. We must become true persons who keep pace with their leader and his true comrades who work untiringly to creditably realize his intentions however hard the times are.
We must vigorously launch an all-out drive to implement our Party's grand strategy for achieving prosperity.
Last year Kim Jong Il earnestly said that the whole Party, the entire nation and all the people should bring about great innovations and leap forward on all fronts of the revolution and construction following the banner of the industrial revolution in the new century and the flames of Hamnam. This instruction constitutes the most scientific and revolutionary policy he put forth on the basis of his incisive insight into the present undertaking to build a thriving nation and the inexhaustible potentials of the country. True to the pledge we took before the bier of General Kim Jong Il, we should devote all our energy, wisdom and enthusiasm to the struggle for translating into reality his plan of achieving prosperity.
The flames of Hamnam represent the banner of the general offensive for the great victory in 2012, a banner of fresh change. The flames embody the spirit of valiant offensive of accomplishing the tasks entrusted by the Party in the shortest possible period and on the highest possible level, the strong national self-respect of rising beyond the global standards by drawing on one's own strength, and the traits of a pioneer of opening before anybody else the gates of prosperity in one's own home town and at one¡¯s own workplace.
The flames of Hamnam for great innovation should flare up more fiercely in the sectors of light industry and agriculture, the leading sectors for the building of a thriving country.
The sector of light industry should direct utmost concern to making the modern production bases, which are associated with our Party¡¯s great care, pay off. It should produce in larger amounts quality goods which cater to people's tastes and are welcomed by them. The problem of raw and other materials necessary for this sector should be solved by relying on domestic resources, and the relentless drive be continued to develop the local industry.
At present, the food problem is a burning issue in building a thriving country. Today Party organizations' militant efficiency and officials' loyalty to the revolution will be verified in solving this problem. They should implement to the letter the Party's policy of agricultural revolution so as to radically increase the per-unit area yield of grain both in lowlands and highlands. It is important to achieve cyclic production between farming and stockbreeding, introduce the organic farming method of our style in a proactive manner and take timely measures to satisfy the demand for farming materials and machinery needed to hit the target for agricultural production. They should ensure that the modern bases for stockbreeding and poultry farming and large-size fruit and fish farms, all having an important share in the improvement of people's living standards, run at full capacity.
The vanguard sectors of the national economy, the sectors of basic industries, are charged with making breakthroughs in the grand onward march for the next 100 years following the flames of Hamnam. We should solve the problem of power shortage at all costs and on a priority basis. The sector of electric-power industry should continue to press on with the building of large-size hydropower stations and improve the operation of equipment and technical management at the existing power stations, so as to keep the generation of electricity going on a high level. The sector of coal-mining industry should direct its efforts to meeting the demands for coal from thermal-power stations and chemical and metallurgical factories, and actively develop new coal fields. The officials and working people in the sector of metallurgical industry should increase the capacity of the Juche iron production system, introduce the techniques of high-temperature air combustion which rely on domestic fuel, and accelerate the modernization of the rolled steel production lines.
The sector of rail transport should give precedence to upgrading the railways of the country, increase rail transport capacity and consolidate its material and technical foundations. The sector of chemical industry should, while building up the Juche fertilizer production system, effect a radical increase in its capacity and normalize the production of vinalon and other chemical fibres and synthetic resins on a high level.
The industrial revolution in the new century, which is the grand strategic line of socialist construction advanced by our Party, is a sacred struggle for building ours into a powerful country with the knowledge-based economy of our style through the drive to break through the cutting edge.
We should raise the overall level of the technical equipment onto a new high with the pioneering spirit and creative spirit displayed by the developers at the Ryonha Machine in making a rapid progress in producing the latest CNC machine tools. All sectors and units of the national economy should drastically increase the capacity for developing new technologies and products of their own, and push forward in a far-sighted way the work of turning the national economy into a technology-intensive one.
Scientific research institutes should make greater efforts to develop the fields of core, basic technologies, including information and nano technologies and bioengineering, and promote technical engineering in major fields and produce more research findings that would beat the world. In developing science and technology, they should firmly establish the Juche-orientation, thoroughly apply collectivism, and bring science and technology close to production. Talents in the field of science and technology, precious assets of the country, should be given prominence and the conditions for their scientific research should be provided at the highest standard.
We should glorify our country as a highly civilized, socialist one.
It was a patriotic will of the great General and is a unanimous aspiration of our people to surpass the standards of the world civilization in all spheres of social life. The sector of education should ensure a high level of its contents and form, conditions and environment, as required by the era of knowledge-based economy. The sector of literature and the arts should thoroughly implement the Party's policy of conducting creation, editing and representation in our own way, and produce a larger number of masterpieces that are perfect in all respects. Activities of mass-based art lifelike, easy to understand and based on the reality of a great upsurge should be conducted briskly, and the conditions for the youth and other people to lead an affluent cultured and emotional life be better provided. The heated enthusiasm for sports should be encouraged further by enhancing social interest in physical culture and sports and making them part of people's every day life and habit.
The work of bringing into full bloom the most excellent culture and ethics of our nation and our way of life should be further intensified. We should wage an intense struggle to frustrate the manoeuvres of the imperialists' ideological and cultural infiltration and root up alien elements in the way of life, so that a revolutionary and sound atmosphere would pervade the whole society.
To improve the appearance of Pyongyang is an important project to greet in grand style the centenary of the birth of President Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il's earnest behest. We should step up the construction in the Mansudae area and other major projects under construction on the highest level and effect a radical turn in urban management and landscaping, thus ushering in a new heyday of Pyongyang in the Songun era. Every province, city and county should sustain its local peculiarities in its designing and construction, and drastically improve the appearance of its urban and rural communities.
We should consolidate the national defence capabilities in every way under the unfurled banner of Songun.
The Korean People¡¯s Army is the pillar and main force of the Songun revolution and the vanguard in the building of a thriving nation.
This year marks the centenary of the birth of Kim Il Sung and the 80th founding anniversary of the Korean People's Army; in this meaningful year, the KPA should bring about a radical turn in all aspects of military and political work by pressing ahead with the movement for winning the title of O Jung Hup-led 7th Regiment, and thus demonstrate its heroic mettle and invincible combat efficiency as the army of the leader and the Party.
The officers and men of the KPA should cherish an unshakable faith that the great Comrade Kim Jong Il will always be with them and a noble moral obligation to him, and firmly defend his achievements for army-building and add eternal glory to them by force of arms.
The entire army should place absolute trust in and follow Kim Jong Un and become human rifles and bombs to defend him unto death, holding high the slogan ¡°Let us defend with our very lives the Party Central Committee headed by the dear respected Comrade Kim Jong Un!"
At this juncture, when the Juche-oriented cause of army building has entered a new historic phase, the KPA should intensify the Party political work aimed at thoroughly establishing the unified command system of Kim Jong Un, Supreme Commander of our revolutionary armed forces. True to the lifetime intentions of Kim Jong Il, it should take the lead in supporting faithfully the Songun-based revolutionary leadership of Kim Jong Un, the brilliant commander born of Mt. Paektu, and establish throughout it the revolutionary climate of carrying out his orders and instructions to the letter, without reservation and even unto death.
The security of our country and people, heritage bequeathed by Kim Jong Il, and victory in the building of a thriving nation, rest on the arms of Songun. Under the slogan "Training is also a battle!" the KPA should conduct training in an atmosphere of actual battle as befits the revolutionary army of Mt. Paektu, so as to prepare all the officers and men to be a-match-for-a-hundred combatants who could implement independently and actively the operational combat tasks assigned to them, a death-defying corps for national reunification. They should be fully ready to deal prompt and merciless blows at the enemy and achieve national reunification, if they dare infringe upon our dignity and sovereignty.
By pushing ahead with the work of strengthening the command and management of units and creating military ethos, it should thoroughly establish across it steel-strong military discipline, and possess looks required of a regular army and noble moral traits. It should direct constant efforts to the strengthening of companies, thus making them all competent combat ranks and dear homes for rank-and-file soldiers.
True to the intention of our Party, which set this year for the KPA as a year for the people, it should make devoted efforts to bring their happiness into full bloom, thus implementing with credit Kim Jong Il's idea of army-people unity.
The service personnel should achieve brilliant feats of labor that would be remembered for all ages by fully demonstrating their mettle of "At a go" on major fronts of the building of a thriving nation and with the charging speed, a-match-for-a-hundred speed, of the heroic KPA, which has no word impossible in its vocabulary.
The enormous potentialities of the defence industry Kim Il Sung created and Kim Jong Il consolidated through his tireless Songun-based revolutionary leadership should be given fullest play.
To strengthen the Party and enhance its leadership role to the maximum is the decisive guarantee for unfolding a new era of prosperity true to the behests of Kim Jong Il.
At present our Party and revolution are in an important, responsible period, when the revolutionary cause of Juche is being carried forward. The present reality demands that the Paektu spirit of march, the spirit of uninterrupted revolution, to carry out the revolution firmly rallied behind Kim Jong Un run through the building and activities of the Party.
The key point in our Party work at present and in the future, too, is to thoroughly establish the monolithic leadership system of the Party. We should strengthen and develop the whole Party into an integrated whole of organizational and ideological unity, which is run through with the unanimous will to follow the leader's intentions unconditionally.
Party organizations should fully get acquainted with the public sentiments as required by the Party's mass line, and effect a fresh turn in the work with the masses. They should respect the opinions of the masses and intensify Party work accordingly, so as to make the greatness of our Party's benevolent politics, all-embracing politics, demonstrated to the full this year that marks the centenary of the birth of President Kim Il Sung.
The most powerful is a Party organization which translates into reality the lifetime wish of Kim Jong Il. Party organizations at all levels should concentrate their efforts on the struggle to make the flames of Hamnam flare up fiercely and push ahead with the industrial revolution in the new century. They should launch in a fresh and ambitious way the information and publicity work to inspire the people to live and work in the spirit and at the speed of forced march displayed by Kim Jong Il.
It is important to radically improve the way of work of officials and their leading abilities as required by the era of great upsurge.
What is important today for our officials is to actively learn from the militant temperament of the commanding officers of the KPA, who carry out the intentions of Kim Jong Un in a most swift and thoroughgoing way. Officials who buckle down audaciously and without any delay to what the Party is determined to do, who carry out any challenging task at lightning speed in a three-dimensional way and who finish any thing to be impeccable even in the distant future as a thing of lasting value?-the current age of great upsurge demand such officials.
"Let us do many more things for the benefit of the people!"?-this must be the slogan of action and conscience for our officials in supporting the intentions of the great Party. Officials should be deeply aware that they exist for the sake of the people, have the steadfast standpoint of launching all undertakings in keeping with the will and interests of the people, and acquire an open-minded attitude of verifying their loyalty to the Party in front of the people. They should thoroughly effect the intentions of our Party of considering people's conveniences to be absolute and the highest priority and making devoted services for them.
It is an important key to emerging victorious in the general offensive of this year to give fullest play to the mental strength of the masses of the people.
The mental strength of the masses decides everything. It is necessary to emulate the mental strength and executive abilities displayed by the people in South Hamgyong Province who have proudly manufactured state-of-the-art machinery by their own efforts with a firm faith that Korea does what it is determined to do. Mass movement and socialist emulation drive should be launched vigorously in all parts of the country to enlist the mental strength of the masses.
As Kim Jong Il said, when the working people's organizations are afire with enthusiasm, the whole country will be enveloped with the same atmosphere. The youth league organizations should train all their members to be genuine young vanguard of Songun that will creditably carry forward the traditions of performing miracles and innovations and the traditions of revolutionary optimism displayed in every period of the Korean revolution. Young people should perform feats of labor at all sites of the building of a thriving country, and build many more monumental structures in the Songun era to be named after youth, singing aloud "March of the Korean Youth". The women's union organizations should actively conduct various forms of do-good-thing movement, including the women¡¯s union shock-brigade campaign, and render tangible contributions to making a revolutionary and sound way of life prevail throughout the country. All the working people's organizations should fully discharge their mission and duty as organizations for ideological education so as to encourage all their members to highly display their honor of being participants and victors in the drive to build a great, prosperous and powerful country.
We must thoroughly carry out the instructions of President Kim Il Sung, eternal sun of the nation, and the respected leader Kim Jong Il on national reunification.
The reunification of the country was the lifelong desire of the great persons of Mt. Paektu and the greatest national task assigned to our generation. General Kim Jong Il opened up a broad avenue for accomplishing Kim Il Sung's cause of national reunification by devoting his whole life. Today, the dear respected Kim Jong Un, another peerless patriot, stands in the van of the effort to carry out the cause of national reunification under the banners of the immortal three charters for national reunification and the north-south joint declarations. As solid foundations have been laid for national reunification and the whole of 70 million Korean people are burning with patriotic zeal, the long-cherished desire of the nation will be materialized without fail before long.
Last year, proceeding from a patriotic intention to open a new phase for reunification and prosperity, we proposed wide-ranging talks and negotiations to the south Korean authorities, and made consistent efforts to realize them. However, running against the trend of the times and the public sentiments, the conservative ruling forces in south Korea responded by further intensifying worship of other countries, including the United States, confrontation with the fellow countrymen in the north and war manoeuvres against the north. The acts contrary to morality and against the nation committed by the group of traitors in south Korea?neglecting the greatest national sorrow and hindering in every possible way the offering of condolence?triggered soaring indignation and denunciation on the part of all compatriots. The ruling forces have become an object of people's stern trial.
The developments of last year reaffirmed the truth of history that our nation's will for independent reunification, peace and prosperity can be broken by no force and the anti-reunification forces will surely be defeated.
This year marks the fifth anniversary of the publication of the October 4 Declaration, the action programme of the June 15 Joint Declaration.
In this meaningful year we must bring about a decisive turn in accomplishing the cause of national reunification as we hold high the slogan "Let all the compatriots open the gates of national reunification full of fresh confidence!"
The stand of national independence and putting the nation above anything else should be maintained in a thoroughgoing way.
Solving the problems of inter-Korean relations by rejecting aggressive foreign forces and pooling the efforts of our nation itself is the demand of the June 15 reunification era. All the fellow countrymen in the north, south and abroad should open a broad vista for national reunification with the conviction that our nation should be of the first and foremost consideration and that they will have nothing they cannot do if they maintain the thoroughgoing stand of national independence. Marking the fifth anniversary of the publication of the October 4 Declaration, the atmosphere of supporting the north-south declarations and the will to implement them should prevail across the whole of the national territory. The south Korean people should wage a fierce mass struggle aimed at resolutely frustrating the schemes to sell the interests of the nation in collaboration with the foreign forces.
National reconciliation and unity is the precondition and guarantee for national reunification.
The common interests of the nation should be given top priority, and everything should be subordinated to them. Confrontation between fellow countrymen that is driving the inter-Korean relations towards catastrophe should be strongly opposed and rejected. Acts against reunification, acts that disgrace the dignity of the north and foster distrust and antagonism between the north and the south, cannot be tolerated in the slightest. All the fellow countrymen should wage a nationwide struggle to frustrate the anti-reunification policy hostile to compatriots pursued by the group of traitors, hindering national reconciliation and unity and escalating confrontation.
The prevailing situation urgently demands that the war moves of the bellicose forces at home and abroad be checked and frustrated.
The entire nation, under the unfurled banner of anti-war and peace, should smash every move of reckless military provocation, arms buildup and war exercises against the north. Constant vigilance against the danger of military collaboration of the bellicose forces within the country and without should be maintained, and the US aggressor forces, the main obstacle to peace in the Korean peninsula, should be pulled out from south Korea.
Today's struggle to implement the instructions of Kim Jong Il on national reunification is a patriotic one related with the destiny of the nation in the new century of the Juche era. All the Korean people in the north, south and abroad should unite closely under the banners of the June 15 Joint Declaration and the October 4 Declaration and give further spurs to the reunification movement. By doing so, this year they should make a breakthrough for independent reunification.
The international environment was quite complicated last year, but the Korean revolution advanced invariably along the road of victory indicated by Kim Jong Il.
Kim Jong Il was a defender of justice; for long, he conducted energetic external activities under the unfurled banner of anti-imperialist independence, remarkably enhancing the position and authority of Songun Korea in the international arena and rendering immortal services to promoting the cause of independence of mankind. The historic visits he made last year to China and Russia served as important occasions for achieving peace in the world and security in Northeast Asia and developing the traditional relations of friendship. Whatever a sudden turn the international situation may take and however frantically the imperialists may behave, nothing can arrest our advance towards socialism. We will, in the future, too, hold fast to our Party¡¯s principles of independence, friendship and peace, and strive to develop relations of friendship with countries that respect our country's sovereignty.
As they have entered the new century of the Juche era, having overcome the pain of the greatest loss, our service personnel and people are filled with a grim determination and confidence in sure victory.
Inscribed in the hearts of our service personnel and people, who have turned out in the new onward march, are lifetime appearances of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. As Kim Jong Un, a peerlessly brilliant commander, is leading our revolution in the van and the powerful revolutionary army and people united single-heartedly support faithfully their guide, the Workers' Party of Korea, the revolutionary cause of Juche is sure to emerge victorious. The advance of our revolution that started on Mt. Paektu will continue without interruption as a vigorous march towards the victorious Songun revolution, towards prosperity.
Let us all glorify the new century of Kim Il Sung's Korea as an era of prosperity and proud victory under the leadership of Kim Jong Un, the supreme leader of our Party, our state and our army.
Space Is Common Wealth: KCNA White Paper
Pyongyang, November 29 (KCNA) -- The Korean Central News Agency released white paper "Space Is Common Wealth of Humankind" Monday.
Referring to the global trend for space development, the white paper disclosed the U.S. ambition for space monopolization aimed at world domination.
It said: Different countries and nations regard it as their strategic goals to advance into vast space, which serves as a powerful engine propelling the future development of science and technology as well as economy.
Space technologies have made leaping progress in various fields including telecommunications, public health, seed production and energy whose achievements have opened up the prospect for the effective use of space for human civilization and development.
New economy called space economy is thriving encompassing the production of all kinds of goods and services in the course of space activities.
The competition for space development gained fresh momentum among countries in recent years.
Last year a total of 118 space modules were launched by carrier rockets into their orbits to go around the earth.
Even developing countries buckled down to the activities to conquer space, injecting fresh vitality into the worldwide competition for space development.
The DPRK joined the Outer Space Treaty and the Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space. It successfully launched satellite Kwangmyongsong-2 by rocket carrier Unha-2 into the space on April 5, 2009 after going through the procedures concerning international law.
The U.S. and its allies, by abusing the UN Security Council, took issue with the DPRK's peaceful satellite launch.
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives recently submitted a bill banning the DPRK, China and some other countries from launching satellites.
This is aimed to bar the sovereign countries from making legitimate advance into space, and monopolize it.
The U.S. has long spurred the scenario for converting the space into the theatre of a war for realizing its strategy for world domination.
It openly disclosed its ambition for monopolizing the space in the new century.
After the September 11 incident, the U.S. announced a "war on terrorism" and began advocating new "space military principle".
On December 13, 2001 the then U.S. President Bush announced its unilateral withdrawal from the 1972 ABM treaty.
Since then it has opted for removing stumbling blocks in the way of developing space weapons and buckled down to putting its scenario for a space war into practice.
After officially formulating space monopolization as its national policy, the U.S. unhesitatingly put into practice its strategy for putting the world under its control with the use of space.
In October 2006 the U.S. made public "national space policy" to the effect that it rejects any international disarmament agreement that may deter it from making military advance into space and using it, and that it has the right to prevent those countries hurting the U.S. interests from advancing into space, if necessary.
The U.S. actually used space technologies for fighting a "war on terrorism" and other aggression wars, revealing its moves for using the space for the purpose of military aggression.
The U.S. attempt to use the space for military purposes geared to holding hegemony will harass global peace and jeopardize human existence.
No one can check the trend of the times toward the exploration of space for prosperity common to humankind and peaceful purposes.
History Proves Absolute Truth of Socialism
Pyongyang, October 19 (KCNA) -- The crisis of capitalism is getting more serious in all aspects.
The structural contradiction and moral taint of capitalist society, full of deception, fraud, hypocrisy and vanity, have been brought to light.
The financial crisis caused by the market economy of capitalism drives the world into uncontrollable confusion.
The working masses' struggle, staged against capitalism all at once across the world on Oct. 15 and 16, was the biggest organized one ever in the history of capitalism spanning more than 300 years.
Taking part in the struggle were millions of people from all walks of life in more than 1 500 cities in 80 odd countries.
The American protestors set October 15 as "day of international movement", calling on the working people the world over to respond to it.
In response to this call anti-capitalist demos took place all at once in Britain, Italy, Germany, Spain, France, Belgium, Australia, Japan, Philippines, Taiwan, etc. on October 15 and 16. The protestors contended that the blame for the capitalist economic crisis is on the greedy financial capital and corrupt politicians. They demanded final end to poverty and economic inequality, chanting such slogans as "Reject capitalism!" and "Give us jobs!"
In south Korea more than 400 civic and public organizations and workers' organizations launched protest, chanting "Occupy Seoul!"
These unprecedentedly big actions of the working masses against the exploiting classes in capitalist countries were attributable to the extremely acute socio-class contradictions created after the outbreak of the global financial crisis in 2007.
Various relief measures taken by the Western countries after the financial crisis were, in essence, for saving the big monopolistic capitals on the maw of bankruptcy. Those steps deepened concentration of capital only on big monopolistic enterprises while further deteriorating the life of the overwhelming majority of popular masses.
The capitalist market economy is now on the point of total bankruptcy, embroiled in a new financial panic by protracted economic crisis.
Stocks fell hard at the global financial markets, causing such serious upheaval as rise and fall in quotations of major currencies.
European banks, which bought national bonds issued by Eurozone countries suffering from the debt crisis, may reportedly sustain losses of 300 billion Euros in maximum.
As regards the gloomy monetary situation in Western countries the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development predicted that the capitalist economy would not escape from the stagnation not only in 2011 but in 2012.
The only way out of the present crisis facing the capitalist world is to root out its system.
The Western countries can never get rid of the vicious cycle of crisis with any means as long as the capitalist market economy is left intact.
History never flows as wished by the imperialists and reactionaries.
Foreign media report that the shocking impact by financial and debt crisis is bringing to Europe's party politics and ideological trend of its society the most serious change since the end of the Cold War.
In Latin America many countries more strongly call for rejecting the capitalist market economy and taking to the road of socialism and leftist governments' influence is growing stronger with each passing day.
With the passage of time the capitalist corruptness and falsity are brought to bolder relief and illusion about capitalism vanishes like a bubble by the rapid current.
The idea reflecting the desire of humankind to live and develop in an independent way has become more vital. The truth of socialism is clearly evidenced in a new historic environment in the 21st century.
Socialism is the most scientific, just and worthwhile way that helps bear good fruition without fail.
As clarified by leader Kim Jong Il, socialism is a science.
The future of mankind is ensured by socialism based on science.
North-South Buddhist Joint Mass Praying for National Reunification Held
Pyongyang, September 5 (KCNA) -- A north-south Buddhist joint mass for praying for national reunification was held at the Pohyon Temple in Mt. Myohyang on Monday to mark the millennium of the wood engraving of 80 000 blocks of Complete Collection of Buddhist Scriptures.
Present there from the north side were Chairman Sim Sang Jin and other personages of the Central Committee of the Buddhist Federation of Korea, those of the Hyangsan County Committee of the Federation and priests and believers of the Temple and from the south side were Ri Ja Sung, chairman of the Buddhist Orders Council and chief of the Administrative Office of the Buddhist Jogye Order, priests, believers and other personages concerned.
A Buddhist ritual was held and speeches were made at the mass. Then a north-south Buddhist joint address was read out to pray for national reunification.
Speeches and address noted that to hold the joint mass at the Pohyon Temple in Mt. Myohyang, the site for praying for the good of the country, on the millennium of the wood engraving of 80 000 blocks of Complete Collection of Buddhist Scriptures is a meaningful Buddhist event as it reflects the desire and will of all the fellow countrymen to realize charity, equality and peace in accordance with sacred teachings of Buddha, and build a reunified country, an earthly paradise in the present world, where the idea of getting rid of pain and attaining happiness has come true.
All the Buddhists in the north and the south should protect, preserve and glorify well the 80 000 blocks of Complete Collection of Buddhist Scriptures, a precious cultural heritage of the nation and a book of Buddha's teachings, and faithfully protect and implement the historic June 15 joint declaration and the October 4 declaration in Dharma-minded concord under the banner of "By our nation itself", they said.
For the present it is necessary to turn out in the practical actions to defuse the confrontation between the north and the south at an early date and actively push forward dialogue and cooperation, they stressed.
DPRK to Hold Six-party Talks without Preconditions
Pyongyang, August 1 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of the DPRK gave the following answer to a question put by KCNA Monday following the DPRK-U.S. high-ranking talks held in New York, U.S.:
The DPRK delegation led by First Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Kye Gwan visited the U.S. at the invitation of the U.S. government. It held high-ranking talks with the U.S. delegation led by Special Representative for the DPRK Policy Stephen Bosworth in New York from July 28 to 29.
The talks had an in-depth discussion on the issues of improving the DPRK-U.S. relations, ensuring stability on the Korean Peninsula and resuming the six-party talks in a sincere and constructive atmosphere.
Both sides recognized that the improvement of the bilateral relations and the peaceful negotiated settlement of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula conform with the interests of the two sides and agreed to further dialogue.
The DPRK remains unchanged in its stand to resume the six-party talks without preconditions at an early date and comprehensively implement the September 19 joint statement on the principle of simultaneous action.
Appeal Issued to Mark Anniversary of June 15 Joint Declaration
Pyongyang, June 15 (KCNA) -- The North, South and Overseas Side Committees for Implementing June 15 Joint Declaration should firmly join hands in the spirit of June 15 and dynamically open a new phase of national reconciliation, unity, peace and reunification.
They declared this in a joint appeal on June 15, the 11th anniversary of the publication of the joint declaration.
The adoption of the joint declaration in June 2000 was a great event which replaced the history of national division recorded with distrust and confrontation by a new history of reconciliation, unity, peace and reunification, the appeal said, and went on:
The way of visits, contacts, dialogue and meeting for reunification remains blocked between the north and the south at present and only the atmosphere of confrontation and war is prevailing between them.
This is obviously attributable to the denial of the joint declaration and the stir up of the confrontation between compatriots.
Moreover, the action taken finally to disallow the event common to the nation marking the 11th anniversary of the joint declaration in Kaesong which NGOs in the north, south and abroad agreed upon and pushed forward is an open negation of the national concord, peace and reunification.
Such act for perpetuating the national division aimed at scuttling the national unity, cooperation and exchange and seeking to escalate the confrontation will be clearly recorded in history and will certainly be punished.
Let all the fellow countrymen get united for implementing the joint declaration.
This is a promise and determination made by All-Korean Committee for Implementation of June 15 Joint Declaration before the fellow countrymen.
The implementation of the joint declaration is the only way of overcoming the present reality in which the situation is inching close to an armed conflict.
The said committee will take the lead in promoting the national reconciliation and unity and achieving peace and independent reunification.
A stumbling block is lying in the way of implementing the joint declaration but it is temporary and no force on earth can stem the violent trend of the June 15 era, stressed the appeal.
Rodong Sinmun on DPRK's Line of National Reunification
Pyongyang, May 17 (KCNA) -- The Korean nation's movement for the country's reunification is a patriotic movement to be proud of as it has advanced and emerged victorious thanks to the distinguished idea and leadership of President Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.
Rodong Sinmun Tuesday says this in a bylined article.
It goes on:
Kim Il Sung took a step to form the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea to energetically organize and mobilize all the Korean patriotic forces for the struggle for national unity and the country's reunification.
In the subsequent period he adhered to the line of reunification-- the line of one Korea. On this basis he advanced reasonable proposals for reunification in every period and indicated overall orientations and ways to realize them.
Under the outstanding leadership of Kim Il Sung, the committee has made a dynamic drive for providing a solid foundation for independent reunification, promoting national reconciliation and unity and developing the north-south dialogue and cooperation true to the Workers' Party of Korea's line and policy of national reunification since the declaration of its birth. It has thus made a great contribution to developing the movement for national reunification.
The successes made by the committee in its activities are a striking demonstration of the validity and vitality of the party's line and policy of national reunification.
The cause of the country's reunification started and led by Kim Il Sung is making a triumphant advance thanks to Kim Jong Il.
All the Korean people are now making a dynamic patriotic struggle to achieve the national unity and the country's peace and reunification by their concerted efforts true to Kim Il Sung's line and policy of the country's reunification under the outstanding leadership of Kim Jong Il.
At present the driving force for national reunification is growing stronger in the north, the south and abroad and getting united closer. They are dynamically advancing towards the country's independent and peaceful reunification, meeting the challenges of the separatist forces inside and outside Korea.
The Korean nation's cause of the country's reunification is sure to triumph thanks to Kim Il Sung's line and policy of national reunification and Kim Jong Il's distinguished and seasoned leadership.
KCNA Commentary/ Tok Islets Are Part of Inviolable Territory of Korea
Pyongyang, April 4 (KCNA) -- The Japanese reactionaries are becoming all the more undisguised in their moves to seize Tok Islets.
On March 30 the Japanese authorities instructed officials to make sure that new textbooks for middle schools for 2011 described Tok Islets as part of Japan¡Çs territory and the kinds of those books are increased.
Explicitly speaking, this is a wonton violation of the sovereignty of Korea and an act of aggression.
Tok Islets are part of the inviolable territory of Korea.
Korea was the first to discover the islets and put them under its jurisdiction. Korea was also the first to reconfirm the dominium over the islets as required by a modern law and declare it internally and externally.
Tok Islets are part of the inalienable territory of Korea in the light of the principle of the prior occupation, the requirement of international law for putting land under one¡Çs jurisdiction, as well as in the light of the principle of effective domination and management of it.
They were marked as part of the territory of Korea on maps drawn by the U.S. and Britain for the confirmation of Japan¡Çs territory right after the Second World War.
These islets were not included in the large Japanese map drawn by the department of staff officers of the Japanese army in 1877 and in another map drawn by the land measurement board in 1899.
Historical facts prove that Tok Islets are part of the inalienable territory of Korea and this was recognized not only by the international community but by Japan.
Japan¡Çs moves to seize Tok Islets were not prompted by its ignorance of international law or by a wrong understanding of historical data. These are designed to realize its wild ambition for aggression.
By putting those islets under its control Japan seeks to turn them into an outpost and military bridgehead from which to launch reinvasion of Korea and other Asian countries and to monopolize economic concessions including marine and underwater resources rich in the waters around the islets.
To this end, it is trying to implant the militarist idea into the Japanese people and youngsters through the education in the distorted history and thus hurl them as a shock brigade and cannon fodder for a seizure of islets and a war.
This is the most hideous of the crimes being committed by Japan before the times and history.
What matters is that it is being openly committed under the direct command and manipulation of the Japanese government.
Japan is persisting in its moves to grab Korea¡Çs territory far from making an apology and reparation for the crimes it committed against the Korean people in the past. This is intolerable.
Tok Islets will always remain part of the inviolable territory of Korea.
Spokesman for DPRK Foreign Ministry on Russian Vice Foreign Minister¡Çs Visit to DPRK
Pyongyang, March 15 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of the DPRK Tuesday gave the following answer to a question put by KCNA as regards the DPRK visit by the vice foreign minister of Russia and his party:
Aleksei Borodavkin, vice foreign minister of Russia and head of the Russian side to the six-party talks, and his party visited the DPRK from March 11 to 14.
During the visit the vice foreign minister of Russia paid a courtesy call on DPRK Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun, met with the first vice-minister of Foreign Affairs and the vice-minister of Foreign Affairs in charge of Russian affairs and had an in-depth exchange of views on the issue of boosting the bilateral relations, the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the region, the issue of resuming the six-party talks and other matters of mutual concern.
Both sides discussed the issues of boosting the traditional friendly relations between the two countries and further reenergizing bilateral cooperation in the political, economic and other multifaceted fields this significant year marking the 10th anniversary of the publication of the historic DPRK-Russia Moscow Declaration.
The Russian side expressed concern over the increasing tension on the Korean Peninsula. It stressed that the tripartite economic cooperation projects including the laying of railways, gas pipeline and a transmission line linking Russia with the north and the south of Korea have a special prospect in the aspect of actively helping improve the inter-Korean relations.
The DPRK side expressed support for the projects of the Russian side for tripartite economic cooperation and manifested its willingness to positively examine the proposal for tripartite working negotiations for their implementation if it is advanced.
The Russian side expressed its stand that the six-party talks should be resumed at an early date to settle the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula in a political and diplomatic manner. It pointed out that it is important to take constructive measures such as DPRK¡Çs moratorium on nuclear test and ballistic missile launch, access of IAEA experts to uranium enrichment facilities in the Nyongbyon area and discussion of the issue of uranium enrichment at the six-party talks.
The DPRK side expressed its stand that it can go out to the six-party talks without any precondition, it is not opposed to the discussion of the above-said issue at the six-party talks and if the talks are resumed, other issues raised by the Russian side can be also discussed and settled in the course of implementing the September 19 Joint Statement calling for the denuclearization of the whole Korean Peninsula on the principle of simultaneous action.
Beneficial were negotiations held in an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust.
Message to President of S. Korean Red Cross
Pyongyang, February 1 (KCNA) -- The chairman of the Central Committee of the Red Cross Society of the DPRK sent a message to the president of the south Korean Red Cross on Tuesday.
The message said that the DPRK proposed north-south dialogue including the authorities' talks in the joint statement of the government, political parties and organizations, a statement of the spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea and an appeal of the Central Committee of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea.
There is neither reason nor conditions for the Red Cross organizations of both sides to fail to sit at a negotiating table now that the north-south high-level military talks are to open thanks to the magnanimous and positive proposal made by the Korean People's Army, the message added.
Expressing regret at the south Korean Red Cross for having not yet responded to the DPRK's proposal for holding the Red Cross talks in Munsan on Feb. 1, the message called for discussing the date of talks again and opening them at the earliest possible date.
It expressed expectation that the south Korean Red Cross would seek the earliest negotiated settlement of humanitarian issues between the north and the south in response to the compatriotic decision made by the DPRK and measures taken by it out of good faith so as to ensure the restart of reunion of separated families and relatives from upcoming spring.
Rodong Sinmun Calls for Improved Inter-Korean Relations
Pyongyang, January 6 (KCNA) -- It is impossible to achieve independent reunification, peace and prosperity unless the present inter-Korean relations are turned into the relations of reconciliation and unity, says Rodong Sinmun Thursday in a bylined article.
The improved inter-Korean relations are the unanimous aspiration of the compatriots and an urgent demand of the times, the article notes, and goes on:
National reconciliation and unity would be unthinkable without the dialogue and cooperation between the north and the south.
To actively pursue dialogue and cooperation is one of the important ways to solve the issue of the nation's destiny independently and peacefully by the concerted efforts of the Koreans.
It is necessary to create the atmosphere of dialogue and cooperation between the north and the south by placing the interests common to the nation above anything else.
The purpose of dialogue and cooperation is to remove the distrust and confrontation between the north and the south, promote the national reconciliation and unity and hasten independent reunification.
Dialogue and cooperation should be oriented to trusting and respecting each other, pushing aside differences and finding common points with sincerity and magnanimity, prompted by the single-minded patriotic desire.
In order to develop the inter-Korean relations and inject vitality into them in line with the aspiration of the compatriots and the demand of the times it is necessary to actively realize visits, contacts and cooperation not only between authorities but between people from all walks of life in the north, south and abroad.
When all the political parties and organizations in the north, south and abroad and compatriots from all walks of life make tangible contributions, supporting each other and taking joint actions on the road of reunification and patriotism, national reconciliation and unity and independent reunification will come true earlier.
Koreans Called upon to Abide by Three Principles of National Reunification
Pyongyang, December 7 (KCNA) -- The three principles of national reunification -independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity-which the north and the south solemnly declared at home and abroad through the historic July 4 joint statement have served as a cornerstone of national reunification as it clarified the basic stand and ways of solving the issue of Korea¡¯s reunification on the principle of national independence.
Rodong Sinmun Tuesday says this in a signed article.
The June 15 joint declaration and the October 4 declaration serve as declarations for national independence, peaceful reunification and the great national unity and a great programme for national reunification in the new century as they fully embody the three principles of national reunification, the article notes, and goes on:
The provisions of the declarations are based on the above-said three principles.
In the declarations the north and the south promised each other to independently settle the issue of national reunification by their concerted efforts as they are responsible for settling the issue of reunification, and subordinate everything to it, attaching importance to the dignity and interests of the nation. This means providing a sure guarantee for independently solving the issue of national reunification by the concerted efforts of the Korean nation free from any foreign interference.
It is of great historical importance for the north and the south to have decided to closely cooperate with each other in their efforts to put end to their military and hostile relations and ease tension and ensure peace on the Korean Peninsula and to settle all issues arising in improving the inter-Korean relations and achieving the reunification of the country through dialogues and negotiations. This also indicates a basic way of peacefully achieving national reunification free from any struggle between compatriots.
In the declarations the north and the south also decided to definitely turn the inter-Korean relations into those of mutual respect and trust irrespective of ideology and system and settle the issues of inter-Korean relations in conformity with reconciliation, cooperation and reunification. This paved a wide avenue for achieving the great unity of the entire nation under the banners of patriotism and national reunification, transcending the interests of all classes and strata irrespective of ideology and system, political view and religious belief, concludes the article.
Statement Released by Spokesman of DPRK Foreign Ministry
Pyongyang, November 24 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry Wednesday issued the following statement:
As already reported by the Supreme Command of the KPA, the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK on Nov. 23 took a decisive self-defensive measure to cope with the enemy's reckless military provocation of firing shells inside the territorial waters of the DPRK side around Yonphyong Islet in the West Sea of Korea.
The army of the DPRK warned several times that if even a single shell of the enemy is fired inside the territorial waters of the DPRK, it will take a prompt retaliatory strike in connection with the live shell firing drill they planned to stage from Yonphyong Islet while conducting the ill-famed war maneuvers for a war of aggression against the DPRK codenamed Hoguk.
At 8:00 a.m. on Nov. 23, the very day the incident occurred, the head of the delegation of the DPRK side to the inter-Korean military talks sent a telephone message to the head of the delegation of the enemy side once again strongly urging it to cancel the plan for staging the above-said firing drill in the waters around the islet, the sensitive waters.
This notwithstanding, the enemy committed such an extremely reckless military provocation as firing dozens of shells from the islet inside the territorial waters of the DPRK side from around 13:00.
The enemy fired shells from the islet which is so close to the territory of the DPRK that it is within each other's eyeshot despite the fact that there are so many mountains and rivers, sea waters and islets in south Korea. This powder-reeking saber-rattling cannot be construed otherwise than a politically motivated provocation.
The enemy is claiming that they fired shells southward from the islet in a bid not to get on the nerves of the DPRK but Yonphyong Islet is located deep inside the territorial waters of the DPRK away from the maritime military demarcation line. If live shells are fired from the islet, they are bound to drop inside the territorial waters of the DPRK side no matter in which direction they are fired because of such geographical features.
The ulterior aim sought by the enemy is to create the impression that the DPRK side recognized the waters off the islet as their "territorial waters", in case that there was no physical counter-action on the part of the former.
Herein lies the crafty and vicious nature of the enemy's provocation.
The army of the DPRK took such a self-defensive measure as making a prompt powerful strike at the artillery positions from which the enemy fired the shells as it does not make an empty talk.
This incident is one more dangerous development which took place because of the illegal "northern limit line" unilaterally fixed by Clark, UN forces commander, as he pleased on Aug. 30, 1953 after the conclusion of the Korean Armistice Agreement.
The U.S., its followers and some bosses of international bodies should drop such bad habit as thoughtlessly accusing somebody before learning about the truth about the incident.
If they shield south Korea, the criminal, without principle, just for being their ally, this is little short of feeding oil to the fire.
The DPRK that sets store by the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula is now exercising superhuman self-control but the artillery pieces of the army of the DPRK, the defender of justice, remain ready to fire.
29th Yun I Sang Concert Opens
Pyongyang, November 10 (KCNA) -- The 29th Yun I Sang concert was opened.
An inaugural performance was given at the Yun I Sang Concert Hall on Wednesday.
Among the audience were Minister of Culture An Tong Chun, officials concerned, creators and artistes of national art organizations and teachers, researchers and students in the field of art education and working people.
Also among the audience were Yun's widow and daughter, a press corps of a music broadcasting company of Germany and others.
A speech was made by Han Chol, vice-minister of Culture.
He expressed belief that the concert which has been significantly held under the warm loving care of General Secretary Kim Jong Il who always remembers Yun would contribute to giving momentum to the desire of the Koreans for reunification.
Put on the stage were female solo "Do Prosper, My Motherland", duet for cello and harp, duet for viola and piano and violin concerto No. 3 composed by Yun and other numbers.
The concert given by artistes of the orchestra of the Yun I Sang Music Institute and various other art troupes was acclaimed by the audience for their high level of representation.
The concert will run through Nov. 12.
WPK Conference Held
Pyongyang, September 28 (KCNA) -- The Conference of the Workers' Party of Korea was held with success in Pyongyang on Sept. 28.
Kim Jong Il, general secretary of the WPK and chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK, was present at the Conference.
Present there were delegates elected at the meeting of WPK delegates of the Korean People's Army and provincial and political bureaus' meetings of delegates of the WPK.
Officials of the party, armed forces and power organs, working people's organizations, ministries and national institutions, servicepersons and officials in the fields of science, education, public health, culture and arts and media attended the Conference as observers.
All the participants observed a moment's silence in memory of President Kim Il Sung who successfully accomplished the cause of founding the Juche-type revolutionary party for the first time in history and developed the WPK into a powerful ever-victorious staff of the revolution.
Kim Yong Nam made an opening address.
Choe Yong Rim worked as chairman at the Conference upon authorization by the consultative meeting of provincial delegates.
The Conference elected its Presidium.
The Presidium included Kim Jong Il and Kim Yong Nam, Choe Yong Rim, Kim Yong Chun, Jang Song Thaek, Ri Yong Ho, Kim Jong Gak, Jon Pyong Ho, Choe Thae Bok, Yang Hyong Sop, Hong Sok Hyong, Kim Kuk Thae, Kim Ki Nam, Paek Se Bong, U Tong Chuk and Ju Kyu Chang.
The Conference decided on the following agenda items.
1. On the reelection of the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il as general secretary of the WPK
2. On the revision of the WPK rules
3. Election of the central leadership body of the WPK
The Conference discussed the first agenda item.
Kim Yong Nam delivered a speech proposing Kim Jong Il's reelection as general secretary of the WPK.
He said in his speech that Kim Jong Il has devoted his all to the prosperity of the country and the nation and the victory of the revolutionary cause of Juche only for decades since he embarked upon the road of the revolution.
The half a century-long history of Kim Jong Il's revolutionary activities was a history of heroic struggles in which he blazed the path with his ceaseless thinking and pursuit and extraordinary energy and a history of victories in which he made gigantic creation and innovations with his iron will and pluck, the speaker said, and continued:
The recent meeting of WPK delegates of the KPA and meetings of provincial and political bureaus elected Kim Jong Il as a delegate of the WPK Conference reflecting the unanimous will of the army and people of the DPRK to invariably hold Kim Jong Il in high esteem as general secretary of the WPK.
Having Kim Jong Il at the top post of the WPK, organizer and guide of all victories of the Korean people, is the greatest happiness and highest honor of all the party members, servicepersons and people.
Kim Yong Nam courteously proposed to the Conference the reelection of Kim Jong Il as general secretary of the WPK reflecting the unanimous will and wishes of all the party members, servicepersons and people of the country.
Then followed speeches by Chief of the KPA General Staff Ri Yong Ho who is a delegate of the KPA party organization, First Secretary of the C.C., the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League Ri Yong Chol who is a delegate of the Pyongyang City party organization, Chairman of the C.C., the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea Hyon Sang Ju who is a delegate of the Jagang Provincial party organization, Chairman of the C.C., the Union of Agricultural Workers of Korea Ri Myong Gil who is a delegate of the North Phyongan Provincial party organization and President of Kim Il Sung University and concurrently Minister of Higher Education Song Ja Rip who is a delegate of the Pyongyang City party organization.
The speakers fully supported and approved in unison the proposal of the Conference on reelecting Kim Jong Il as general secretary of the WPK.
A resolution of the WPK Conference on reelecting Kim Jong Il as general secretary of the WPK was read out there.
The Conference discussed the second agenda item.
A resolution on the revision of the WPK rules was adopted.
The Conference discussed the third agenda item.
The Conference declared that Kim Il Sung, founder of the WPK and outstanding leader who led the party and the revolution to victories only, would be always held in esteem at the supreme leadership organ of the WPK reflecting the unanimous will and wishes of all the party members, servicepersons and people.
It also declared that Kim Jong Il, general secretary of the WPK, was reelected as member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the C.C., the WPK, member of the Political Bureau of the C.C., the WPK, member of the C.C., the WPK and chairman of the Central Military Commission of the WPK according to the WPK rules and the detailed regulations for the election of the supreme leadership body of the WPK.
The Conference elected the central leadership body of the WPK.
Then followed the election of members and alternate members of the C.C., the WPK.
Candidates for the members and alternate members of the C.C., the WPK were elected as members and alternate members of the C.C., the WPK.
The members of the Central Auditing Commission of the WPK were elected.
Candidates for the members of the Central Auditing Commission of the WPK were elected as members of the commission.
The Conference notified its participants of the decisions of the September 2010 Plenary Meeting of the C.C., the WPK.
The results of the election of the Presidium of the Political Bureau and the Political Bureau of the C.C., the WPK and the secretaries of the C.C., the WPK and organization of the Secretariat were made public there.
The results of organization of the Central Military Commission of the WPK were released.
The appointment of the department directors of the C.C., the WPK and the editor-in-chief of Rodong Sinmun, an organ of the C.C., the WPK, and the results of election of the Control Commission of the C.C., the WPK were made public.
The Conference notified its participants of the decisions made at the First Plenary Meeting of the Central Auditing Commission of the WPK.
Kim Yong Nam made a closing speech.
The Conference marked a significant occasion that demonstrated the revolutionary faith and will of all the party members, servicepersons and people to glorify the WPK as the glorious party of Kim Il Sung for all ages and accomplish the Songun revolutionary cause of Juche started on Mt. Paektu by invariably having Kim Jong Il, peerless political elder and illustrious Songun commander, at the top post of the party and the revolution.
6.15 Committee Urges Japan to Redress Its Crime-Woven History
Pyongyang, August 29 (KCNA) -- The North Side, the South Side and the Overseas Side Committees for Implementing the June 15 Joint Declaration released a statement Sunday on the lapse of a century since the fabrication and promulgation of the "Korea-Japan Annexation Treaty" by the Japanese imperialists.
The Japanese imperialists' forcible fabrication of the "Ulsa Five-point Treaty" and the "Korea-Japan Annexation Treaty" brought unprecedentedly horrific misfortune, pain and disaster to the Korean nation, the statement said.
Japan, however, has justified its aggression and, moreover, has persisted in hostile acts against the Korean nation as evidenced by its territorial claim to Tok Islets, far from making due apology and reparation for its crimes, it noted, and stressed:
Firstly, Japan should make thorough-going apology and reparation for its aggression and colonial rule over Korea and the unspeakable disaster and pain suffered by the Korean nation at the hands of Japan.
Japan should declare totally null and void before the Koreans and the world all kinds of "treaties" including the "Ulsa Five-point Treaty" and the "Korea-Japan Annexation Treaty" by which it enforced the colonial rule over the Korean nation.
It should make apology and reparation for all forms of monstrous crimes it committed against the Korean nation for a century including the sexual slavery for the Imperial Japanese Army, forcible drafting and conscription and massacre and unconditionally return all cultural artifacts it took from Korea.
Secondly, Japan should immediately stop unjust discrimination, political persecution and suppression of Koreans in Japan.
It should stop the suppression of Koreans in Japan and its unwarranted discrimination against Korean schools and ensure on a preferential basis the rights of the Koreans in Japan including the right to existence and the right to national education.
Thirdly, Japan should immediately stop distorting history by whitewashing Japan's history of colonization, the moves to grab Tok Islets and its persistent attempt to revive militarism.
In particular, it should abolish the DPRK-Japan hostile relations and no longer stand in the way of peace and security in Northeast Asia.
The statement appealed to all the Koreans at home and abroad to turn out in the just patriotic movement to defend the national dignity and force Japan to redress its crime-woven history.
"Arirang", Cultural Asset of Humankind
Pyongyang, August 9 (KCNA) -- Grand gymnastic and artistic performance "Arirang", a winner of Kim Il Sung Prize, is going on at May Day Stadium in Pyongyang, drawing many local and foreign people.
"Arirang", reflecting the history of the Korean nation and the present and future of Songun Korea in a unique way, is considered to be a masterpiece of the 21st century.
It, performed by 100,000 persons, is admired by the spectators for its kaleidoscopic background and wonderful scenes.
It made its debut in Juche 91 (2002) to commemorate the 90th birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung.
Since then it has been performed several hundred times, enjoyed by a total of 12,127,000 people, including 118,000 foreigners.
It was registered in the Guinness Book of World Records in August 2007 and was the first to receive Peace Order and its diploma in April of the same year since it was instituted by "Protectors of Arts for the Century", a Russian international charity fund, to appreciate epoch-making masterpieces, inventions and works.
The U.S. magazine "Time" also selected "Arirang" as the best work of Asia in 2008.
"Arirang" is recognized as cultural asset of humankind.
Rodong Sinmun on Kim Il Sung's Revolutionary History
Pyongyang, July 7 (KCNA) -- The revolutionary history of President Kim Il Sung represents the roots of the Workers' Party of Korea and the revolution and an eternal cornerstone for the victory in the drive for building a thriving socialist nation, says Rodong Sinmun Wednesday in a signed article.
It goes on:
The feats performed by the President in building a Juche-type revolutionary party serve as fundamental guidelines for the party building and activities and his history of building revolutionary armed forces and building power as an eternal foundation for developing and strengthening the army and the state.
The road of Songun, which successfully guarantees the happiness and the future of the nation, is the path explored by the President and covered by him all his life. The stirring reality today when all people are dashing ahead like the wind toward the peak of a thriving nation through a high-pitched drive for effecting a great revolutionary surge was unfolded thanks to the noble heritage and foundation provided by the President.
The article notes that the revolutionary history of the President serves as an immortal banner always encouraging the DPRK to win one victory after victory along the road of the independence, an eternal treasure for demonstrating its invincible might as a single-mindedly united power, an invincible treasured sword for protecting and exalting the destiny and the future of the nation with the might of Songun and a driving force for the country's prosperity making it possible to bring about epoch-making leap forward and innovations in building a great prosperous and powerful nation in Korean way by the Korean people themselves.
The army and people of the DPRK confidently foresee a rosy future of Songun Korea in the greatness and immortal feats of General Secretary Kim Jong Il, who has glorified the country as an invincible great power and demonstrated the dignity and spirit of the nation by leading the great drive for building a thriving nation, concludes the article.