BomMinRyon Activities
Spokesman for KPA Unit Stationed in Area of Mt. Kumgang Issues Special Statement
Pyongyang, August 3 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the unit of the Korean People's Army stationed in the area of Mt. Kumgang issued today a special statement in connection with the unsavory incident that occurred in the area of Mt. Kumgang on July 11 in which an unidentified south Korean tourist was shot to death after illegally intruding into the area under the military control of the north side.
We still do not know for what purpose the killed tourist crossed the boundary fence which bans free access in early dawn and what the tourist was going to do after intruding deep into the said area.
Whatever the cause of the incident might be, our side already expressed regret at it through a relevant organ, taking into consideration the fact that the tourist was a compatriot although the tourist met death due to the tourist's own mistake.
But no sooner had the incident occurred than the south Korean puppets, as if they had been waiting for the incident to occur, went so imprudent as to kick up a reckless racket of confrontation with the north almost every day, misleading the public opinion at home and abroad.
Traitor Lee Myung Bak and other men in authority of the puppet government including those concerned of the "Ministry of Unification" are taking the lead in this campaign and it is joined in by the "Grand National Party" and other conservative political parties and organizations.
On July 31 Han Sung Su, puppet prime minister, again made his appearance in an official event where he behaved so ridiculously as to demand the north "punish" the one responsible for the incident and make an understandable "clarification."
We can not but say what we should do, given that the Lee Myung Bak group keeps making much fuss, slandering us just like a guilty party filing the suit first.
The recent racket kicked up by the Lee group is nothing but a deliberate anti-DPRK confrontational ruckus launched by the group on the basis of the fiction cooked up on its own presumption and judgment in a bid to achieve a sinister aim.
A soldier of the KPA spotted the above-mentioned unidentified intruder into the area under the military control of the north side at around 4:50 a.m. on July 11 in a place about 800 m north of the boundary fence.
The soldier who was on combat duty at that time asked the intruder to stop several times according to the relevant regulations in order to ascertain the identity, given that it was too early for the soldier to judge from which direction the intruder came and discern whether the trespasser was a man or a woman.
The trespasser, however, began to flee away, disregarding the soldier's repeated demand. This compelled the soldier to fire even blank shots in an effort to stop the intruder at any cost. Defying this, the intruder ran away so quickly that the soldier was compelled to open fire at the intruder, killing intruder in the end.
This is the truth quite contrary to the Lee group's propaganda.
Frankly speaking, we have so many things that require clarifications but the tourist met death after illegally intruding into the area under the military control of our side.
Nevertheless, the Lee group is urging us to make "apology" and "probe the truth" while making desperate efforts to make the public believe that the KPA soldier took an "excessive counter-action" against the intruder in the area under the military control though the soldier was well aware that the intruder was an unarmed tourist who was on a walk at dawn.
Worse still, they behaved so shamelessly as to visit this or that country in a bid to arrange even a "joint survey of the scene" through "international cooperation".
It is our stand that as far as the fact-finding probe is concerned, this request was fully met when the personnel of the south side permanently stationed at Mt. Kumgang tourist resort inspected the scene, confirmed the dead and took over the body.
Therefore, we interpreted the racket kicked up by traitor Lee Myung Bak right after the occurrence of the incident as a foolish and clumsy behavior betraying his ignorance of military affairs as he has never served in the army and termed it a deliberate anti-DPRK confrontational move to bring the inter-Korean relations to a graver phase.
The Lee group is making much fuss that what the soldier of the KPA did was a wanton violation of the law on the tour of Mt. Kumgang and the agreement on entry, exit and stay in the tourist resort reached between the north and the south though it was a legitimate military action. Clear is an aim sought by the group through this.
The group is working hard to lay the blame for the incident at the door of our side.
Traitor Lee is kicking up all these rackets, absurdly linking the incident that occurred due to the intruder's mistake with the "vital right of people" and hyping and falsifying the incident. This is another politically motivated charade to evade the responsibility for having made the vital rights of south Koreans a victim of American cattle infected with mad cow disease and divert the criticism of him to us.
The reality shows that traitor Lee Myung Bak is driving the frozen inter-Korean relations to a catastrophic phase and he has reached the phase of completely hamstringing the implementation of the historic June 15 joint declaration and the October 4 declaration after going beyond the phase of negating these declarations.
In view of such grave provocation of the Lee Myung Bak group as persisting in its reckless anti-DPRK confrontational racket after unilaterally suspending the tour of Mt. Kumgang under the pretext of the recent case the spokesman for the above-said unit of the KPA made it clear that the unit is authorized to take the following measures:
We will expel all the persons of the south side staying in the Mt. Kumgang tourist area we deem unnecessary.
We will more strictly limit and control the passage of the persons and vehicles of the south side through the Military Demarcation Line to enter the area of Mt. Kumgang.
We will take strong military counter-actions against even the slightest hostile actions in the tourist resort in the area of Mt. Kumgang and the area under the military control from now on.
The statement warned that in case the present inter-Korean relations reach a catastrophic phase, the Lee Myung Bak group will be held entirely accountable for this before the times and the nation.
Lasting Peace on the Korean Peninsula Called for
Pyongyang, June 25 (KCNA) -- Leading papers today in editorials carried 58 years after the U.S. imperialists provoked the Korean war of aggression call for meeting the challenges of the war forces at home and abroad and ensuring lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Rodong Sinmun says that the Korean War ignited by the U.S. imperialists on June 25, 1950 was a brazen-faced and brigandish war of aggression to put Korea under their colonial rule and, furthermore, conquer Asia and the rest of the world and the most barbarous war of genocide in the history of wars.
The U.S. has ceaselessly stepped up the arms build-up and joint military exercises targeted against the DPRK in wanton violation of the Korean Armistice Agreement since the outset of the new century, far from drawing a bitter lesson from its defeat in the Korean War and making a switchover in its policy of aggression toward the DPRK. It is instigating the puppet warmaniacs to confrontation and war against fellow countrymen. Since its seizure of power in south Korea the Lee Myung Bak group has boosted its cooperation with outside forces in the war moves, swimming against the trend of the times towards detente and peace. The bellicose moves escalated by the Lee Myung Bak regime in collusion with outside forces are throwing a stumbling block in the way of achieving peace and the reunification of the country and increasing the danger of the second Korean War.
The situation prevailing on the Korean Peninsula at present requires all Koreans in the north and the south and overseas to unite close and wage a vigorous nationwide struggle to defend peace, the daily says, calling on all Koreans to hold aloft the banner of Songun and protect the dignity and sovereignty of the country and the nation and accomplish the historic cause of national reunification.
The daily underscored the need for all Koreans to stand on the same front of the struggle for peace against war and smash every move of the U.S. for a war of aggression against the DPRK, a grave threat to the peace on the Korean Peninsula, and the every reckless move of the Lee Myung Bak group, its lackeys, to ignite a war of aggression against the north.
Minju Joson stresses that no force on earth can ever arrest the struggle of the Korean nation to defend peace and achieve independent reunification under the uplifted banner of Songun.
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Preservation of Peace on Korean Peninsula Called for
Pyongyang, June 25 (KCNA) -- If a war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula again, it will certainly develop into a nuclear war to threaten the very existence of the nation. It is, therefore, the most urgent task to be fulfilled by the whole nation for protecting its existence and security and achieving the reunification of the country to defend peace from a war. Rodong Sinmun today observes this in a signed article.
It goes on: The entire nation should frustrate the moves of the bellicose forces at home and abroad to provoke a war of aggression against the north and intensify the struggle for peace against war in order to ensure peace on the peninsula.
The struggle for peace against war means a just and patriotic struggle to defend the cradle for the nation and a sacred struggle to pave the way for national reunification and the independent development of the nation.
All Koreans should stand up against the U.S. criminal war maneuvers and arms build-up threatening the existence and future of the nation and isturbing peace and blocking the reunification of the country and its moves to escalate the military pressure upon the DPRK and resolutely frustrate them.
The south Korean people should wage a vigorous struggle for independence against the U.S. and for the withdrawal of the U.S. forces and thus force the U.S. imperialist aggressor forces, the root cause of national misfortune and pain, to quit south Korea as early as possible.
They should, at the same time, intensify the struggle to check and foil the moves stepped up by the Lee Myung Bak group to boost the cooperation with foreign forces in war maneuvers and its reckless actions for a war of aggression against the north, hell-bent on sycophancy towards the U.S. and confrontation with fellow countrymen. All Koreans in the north and the south should turn out in the nation-wide patriotic struggle to remove the danger of war and defend peace.
The idea of "By our nation itself" serves as a powerful weapon in the struggle for peace against war.
All Koreans at home and abroad should
firmly unite as one in the above-said idea and thoroughly smash the criminal moves of the U.S. and the Lee group, its lackeys, to provoke a new war by the concerted efforts of the nation.
Conference of Educators of North and South Held
Mt. Kumgang Resort, May 30 (KCNA) -- A conference of educators of the north and the south for implementing the June 15 joint declaration and the October 4 declaration took place at Mt. Kumgang resort on May 29 and 30.
Speeches were made at the conference on the subject "On the immediate tasks facing the educators of the north and the south to open up a new era of independent reunification, peace and prosperity under the banner of the June 15 joint declaration and the October 4 declaration".
Speakers recalled that educators in the north and the south have conducted brisk activities to implant the desire for reunification and patriotism into the minds of the rising generation and broad masses, pooling the will and wisdom for the peace and reunification of the country.
They underscored the need for the above-said educators to wage a dynamic struggle to uphold and implement the June 15 joint declaration and the October 4 declaration under any circumstances and remove all legal and institutional barriers standing in the way of achieving national unity and reunification.
They called on the educators of the north and the south to firmly join hands and participate in the positive activities to glorify the June 15 era of reunification in the future, too.
A joint press release was issued at the conference.
South Headquarters of Bomminryon Meets
Pyongyang, April 26 (KCNA) -- The South Headquarters of the Pan-Korean Alliance for Reunification (Bomminryon) held the second general meeting of its 10th-term Central Committee on April 20.
A resolution read out at the meeting dealt with the dynamic nationwide struggle to get the U.S. forces withdrawn from south Korea and achieve the peace and reunification of the Korean Peninsula.
The Lee Myung Bak group, in league with the U.S. imperialists, is becoming all the more undisguised in the moves for confrontation with compatriots, defying the unanimous desire of the fellow countrymen for reunification and, at the same time, intensifying the suppression of the progressive forces, it charged.
The South Headquarters of Bomminryon will more firmly uphold the June 15 joint declaration and more thoroughly implement it and make voices of "By our nation itself" ring louder on this land as the conservative ruling forces become undisguised in their moves against reunification, it said, stressing the need to set June 15 as the day of "By our nation itself" and powerfully demonstrate the nation's will for reunification.
It underscored the need to struggle to check the moves of the U.S. and the Lee Myung Bak group keen on tightening the "military alliance," strengthen the solidarity among Koreans in the south and the north and abroad and consolidate the solidarity and alliance of patriotic people from all walks of life in this land as firm as a rock.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Slams Dishonest Forces' Violence in Tibet
Pyongyang, March 20 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry gave the following answer to a question raised by KCNA Thursday as regards cases of violence in Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region of China:
There occurred assault, robbery, arson and murder in the above-said city recently.
This has touched off indignation and condemnation among all Chinese people as it was committed by Tibet separatists in an organized manner at the prodding of dishonest elements.
Tibet is part of an inalienable territory of China.
The DPRK government strongly denounces the unsavory elements for their moves to seek "independence of Tibet" and scuttle the upcoming Beijing Olympics and supports the Chinese government in its efforts to ensure social stability and the rule of law in Tibet and defend the fundamental interests of the Tibetan people.
KCNA Ridicules U.S. Mandarin's Reckless Remarks
Pyongyang, January 28 (KCNA) -- Some days ago, Lefkowitz, special envoy for North Korean human rights issue of the U.S., was impudent enough to poke his nose into the nuclear issue, only to bring shame to himself.
What he uttered is nothing but rubbish which admits of no argument as it only provoked wry laughter.
But what merits attention here is that some American guys who do not know even where they stand, to say nothing of the way the world goes, are watching for a chance to scuttle the processes to settle the nuclear issue and improve the DPRK-U.S. relations, displeased with them.
According to the International Herald Tribune, a few hard-line officials in charge of national security at the office of the vice-president and the State Department were reported to have asserted a more confrontational approach towards the DPRK.
It was in this context that Lefkowitz underlined the need to include the human rights issue in the agenda items of the six-party talks and complained that China and south Korea are not pressurizing north Korea at the American Enterprise Institute, a center of conservatives.
This assertion was, in every respect, prompted by a dangerous attempt to sacrifice the process for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula directly related to the interests of the U.S. and other countries concerned and the peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia for meeting their selfish purpose as it is a revelation of their extreme uneasiness created by their impending political bankruptcy.
As well known, the U.S. conservative hardliners led by neo-conservatives are now seized with extreme uneasiness and anxiety, marginalized in the political arena for the catastrophic consequences entailed by their extreme and subjective way of thinking.
They have neither anything new nor future.
Lefkowitz, Bolton and others are keen to misuse the process for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula for achieving their political ambition under the slogan of hard-line and conservative policy which has already proven bankrupt inside the U.S. Nothing is graver mistake and crime against history than this.
The hackneyed methods used by the U.S. during the Cold War will never work on the DPRK although they may work on others. The six-party talks cannot be treated the same as the "Helsinki process" under any circumstances.
The agreements reached at the six-party talks on the principle of simultaneous action and progress made in this course are welcomed by all countries. Lefkowitz and others who seek to scuttle them cannot escape public censure and jeer.
The reality goes to prove that the negotiated settlement of the nuclear issue remains the general will of the international community and the trend of the times.
We would like to question them what they really seek by turning back the clock.
Such nonsensical remarks would never help stem the trend of the times.
Now that the denuclearization process has reached an important phase the U.S. should refrain from irresponsible remarks that may deflect it from its focus and countries concerned should thoroughly abide by the principle of "action for action."
2007 Brings New Phase in National Reunification
Pyongyang, December 29 (KCNA) -- Juche 96 (2007) has witnessed that the vigorous efforts to usher in the June 15 era of reunification have opened a new aspect for national reunification.
Political parties, government and organizations of the DPRK issued a joint statement on January 17, calling on all the Koreans in the north, the south and overseas to turn out as one in the drive to make this year as a year of attaching importance to the nation, defending peace and achieving unity.
A meeting of officials to accelerate the reunification in 2007 was held under the sponsorship of the South Headquarters of the National Alliance of Youth and Students for the Country's Reunification (Pomchonghakryon). At the meeting, the representatives of south Korean youth and students declared at home and abroad that they would be the vanguards to demonstrate the spirit of giving priority to the nation and the spirit of defending the nation. Organizations of overseas Koreans including the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, the General Association of Koreans in China and the International United Confederation of Koreans manifested their resolution to shine the June 15 reunification era under the banner of an idea of attaching importance to the nation.
Meetings were arranged between the north and the south and joint reunification functions were held. Cooperation, interchange and travel for the national reconciliation, unity and reunification took place briskly.
In particular, thanks to the lofty patriotic intention and will of leader Kim Jong Il the historic north-south submit was arranged and the "Declaration for the Development of North-South Relations and Peace and Prosperity" was made public on October 4. They were noteworthy events which opened up a new epochal phase in the movement for national reunification.
Talks and contacts between the north and the south were held in various fields in the year. Among them were the first inter-Korean premier talks, two rounds of inter-Korean ministerial talks, the north-south general-level military talks, the second north-south defence minister-level talks, the north-south military working-level talks, the 13th meeting of the North-South Committee for the Promotion of Economic Cooperation and the 8th and 9th north-south Red Cross talks.
The grand festival for national reunification marking the 7th anniversary of the publication of the June 15 joint declaration held in Pyongyang and the May Day reunification meeting of workers in the north and the south of Korea for implementing the June 15 joint declaration held in Changwon City, South Kyongsang Province, south Korea, fully demonstrated the strong will of the Korean nation to shape the destiny of the nation independently.
This year also witnessed the joint participation of the athletes from the north and south in the opening ceremony of the 6th Asian Winter Games with the Korean peninsula flag in their van, several meetings of separated families and relatives, the trial train operations in the re-linked railway sections between the north and the south on the east and west coasts and a ceremony for the completion of the Singye Temple which was jointly restored by Buddhists in the north and the south.
An agreement on tourism between the north and the south was concluded and the national economic cooperation was briskly carried on in the Kaesong Industrial Zone.
Indeed, it was a significant year when the entire Korean people in the north, south and abroad turned out in the pro-reunification movement and opened up a new era for the development of north-south relations and peace and prosperity.
Koreans Called upon to Struggle for Great National Unity
Pyongyang, November 23 (KCNA) -- The great national unity is the most right shortcut to reunification in the June 15 era of reunification and a powerful weapon for achieving Korea's reunification and the prosperity of the nation.
Rodong Sinmun Friday says this in a signed article.
Unity is the nation's mode of existence and provides a sure guarantee for national reunification and prosperity, the article notes, and goes on: The struggle to rejoin the blood ties of the divided nation and establish national sovereignty throughout Korea precisely means a struggle for achieving the great national unity.
There are no two different nations that stand in confrontation in the north and the south. The Koreans, a homogenous nation, were divided against their will by foreign forces though they lived in one and the same territory. The fact that Koreans live separated in the north and the south constitutes a temporary pain and tragedy in the nation's history spanning 5,000 years. It is an irresistible trend of the national history and a law-governed requirement of the development of the nation for the divided Koreans to become one nation. No force on earth can perpetuate the division of the Korean nation which came into being and developed throughout a long history or eliminate the nation and its identity. Koreans should no longer allow themselves to live in separation as they are a homogeneous nation. This is the very reason why they should get united and serves as a premise on which unity can be achieved.
The atmosphere of reconciliation and unity is growing stronger than ever before among all the countrymen under the banner of independent reunification.
They have the most just idea, line and policy of the great national unity put forward by President Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il and its excellent tradition. Thanks to the outstanding leadership of Kim Jong Il who has creditably inherited the President's idea of the great national unity there arrived the June 15 era of reunification and the idea of "By our nation itself" is arousing all Koreans to the sacred patriotic struggle for national unity.
KPA Will Never Remain Onlooker to Military Provocations of S. Korean Warships
Pyongyang, October 21 (KCNA) -- A report of the Navy Command of the Korean People's Army was issued on Sunday in connection with the infiltration of warships into the territorial waters of the north side in the West Sea of Korea by the warmongers of the south Korean forces.
According to the report, they keep perpetrating such very dangerous and grave military provocations as infiltrating warships into the territorial waters of the north side in the West Sea of Korea.
At around 06:50 on Oct. 18 they infiltrated four warships deep into the territorial waters of the north side southeast of Ssanggyo-ri of Kangryong County, South Hwanghae Province. This was followed by the intrusion of 30 guard ships, clippers and rubber boats on the same day.
They sent into those waters seven warships on Oct. 14 and 13 warships on Oct. 17 in a desperate bid to allegedly "defend the northern limit line".
When the north side demanded the immediate withdrawal of the warships over international maritime ultra-short wave walkie-talkie according to the north-south agreement, the south Korean forces responded to it in a provocative manner, crying: It is our waters. Don't make far-fetched assertion.
The south Korean military authorities are sadly mistaken if they think they can "defend" the illegal "northern limit line" in such manner now that the north and the south agreed to set up "a special area for peace and cooperation in the West Sea" and fix waters for joint fishing and peaceful waters.
Their behavior is an unpardonable and undisguised provocation to the "Declaration for the Development of North-South Relations and Peace and Prosperity", and it is a product of their political and strategic attempt to drive the north-south relations to the phase of confrontation again.
The KPA Navy will never remain an onlooker to the south Korean naval warships' reckless military provocations as intruding into the inviolable territorial waters of the north side.
The south Korean military authorities had better stop acting rashly.
Rodong Sinmun on Principled Demand for Development of Inter-Korean Relations
Pyongyang, September 30 (KCNA) -- It is the fundamental condition for achieving the independent and peaceful reunification of the country to develop the movement for national reunification and inter-Korean relations in conformity with the demand of the June 15 era of reunification. Rodong Sinmun Sunday says this in a signed article.
The relations between the north and the south are those of the Korean nation itself, a homogeneous nation, from A to Z, the article notes, and goes on: The Korean nation should positively promote the historic cause of national reunification by substantially developing the movement for national reunification and inter-Korean relations as required by the June 15 era of reunification.
For this, it is the most important to firmly maintain the principle of national independence.
The principle can be manifested as the stand of attaching importance to the nation, which regards the will and interests of the nation as the absolute standard in developing the inter-Korean relations and solving the issue of national reunification. To attach importance to the nation, not to the outside forces and put the interests of the nation above all is the most principled demand in the struggle to carve out the destiny of the nation.
It is the demand of the principle of national independence to categorically oppose and reject the flunkeyism and dependence on outside forces in developing the movement for national reunification and inter-Korean relations.
Flunkeyism and dependence on outside forces make the nation slavish and weak and lead it to ruin in the end. This is a bitter lesson the Korean nation has drawn from its long history of national sufferings in the past.
The principle of national independence urges the movement for national reunification and inter-Korean relations to be developed in conformity with the idea of "By our nation itself".
During the days when the June 15 joint declaration has been put into force, the validity and vitality of the idea of "By our nation itself" have been fully demonstrated.
The fundamental development of the movement for reunification and inter-Korean relations hinges upon the national cooperation based on the idea of "By our nation itself".
The development of inter-Korean relations and national reunification are the demand of the times and history.
The Korean nation should wage a more vigorous struggle under the uplifted banner of national independence to fundamentally improve and develop the inter-Korean relations and accomplish the historic cause of national reunification at an early date.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman on Recent DPRK-U.S. Talks
Pyongyang, September 3 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry gave the following answer to a question put by KCNA Monday as regards the recent DPRK-U.S. talks held in Geneva:
A meeting of the DPRK-U.S. working group for the six-party talks was held in Geneva from Sept. 1 to 2.
The meeting discussed the goals at the next phase for the implementation of the September 19 joint statement and reached a series of agreements.
Both sides discussed the issue of taking practical measures to neutralize the existing nuclear facilities in the DPRK within this year and agreed on them.
In return for this the U.S. decided to take such political and economic measures for compensation as delisting the DPRK as a terrorism sponsor and lifting all sanctions that have been applied according to the Trading with the Enemy Act.
This has laid a groundwork for making progress at the plenary session of the six-party talks to be held in the future.
DPRK Hit by Unceasing Torrential Rain
Pyongyang, August 13 (KCNA) -- Many parts of the country are hard hit by continuous torrential rain.
According to the information available from an institution concerned, the rainfall from 0:00 of August 7 to 23:00 of August 12 registered 662mm in Phyonggang County and 422mm in Chonnae County, Kangwon Province and 672mm in Pukchang County, 621mm in Tokchon City, 592mm in Phyongsong City, 570mm in Yangdok County, 529mm in Maengsan County and 452mm in Sunchon City, South Phyongan Province and 592mm in Sinphyong County, 476mm in Sohung County, 467mm in Singye County and 406mm in Suan County, North Hwanghae Province and 399mm in Jongphyong County, 389mm in Kumya County, 336mm in Hamhung City, 309mm in Hongwon County and 304mm in Sinhung County, South Hamgyong Province and over 460mm in Pyongyang.
Jangyon County and Ryongyon County and various other counties in South Hwanghae Province were struck by torrential rain registering over 60, more than 90mm at maximum per hour.
As a result, the farm land in those areas was inundated, washed away and buried under silt and dwelling houses, public buildings, production establishments and other objects were completely or partly destroyed.
This torrential rain also destroyed railways and main roads in the country, suspended power supply and cut off the communications among provinces, cities and counties.
The damage by the unceasing heavy rain is now on the steady increase.
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Huge Damage by Torrential Rain
Pyongyang, August 13 (KCNA) -- The torrential rain that hit the DPRK from August 7 has persisted, causing huge human and material damage.
According to the preliminary information available from different parts of the country as of August 12, the torrential rain left hundreds of persons dead or missing and destroyed more than 30,000 houses for over 63,300 families or rendered them inundated.
It also left tens of thousands of hectares of farmland inundated, buried under silt and washed away. The heavy rain destroyed at least 800 public buildings, over 540 bridges, 70 sections of railroads and at least 1,100 vehicles, pumps and electric motors.
The torrential rain struck Kangwon Province, claiming huge casualties and completely or partly destroying houses for more than 20,000 families or leaving them inundated.
The heavy rain that hit North Hwanghae Province all of a sudden destroyed houses for more than 3,400 families, left at least 9,160 houses inundated and more than 13,000 hectares of farmland inundated, buried under silt and washed away.
In South Hamgyong Province houses for more than 8,000 families were completely destroyed or inundated and over 9,000 hectares of farmland were inundated, buried under silt and washed away.
The torrential rain also hit South Phyongan Province, causing river and stream dikes to collapse. This left a large area of farmland inundated and washed away and destroyed houses and public buildings, roads and railways.
Pyongyang and South Hwanghae Province were also hit hard by the torrential rain.
The material damage so far is estimated to be very big. This unceasing heavy rain destroyed the nation's major railways, roads and bridges, suspended power supply and cut off the communications network.
DPRK Foreign Ministry Blasts Abe Group's Racket over "Abduction Issue"
Pyongyang, July 19 (KCNA) -The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the DPRK released a memorandum Thursday to warn the international community of the dangerous consequences to be entailed by the Japanese authorities' attempt to abuse the "abduction issue."
The memorandum says: The Abe group is now busy with soliciting diplomacy in a bid to put international pressure upon the DPRK while asserting that the "abduction issue" has not yet found a solution.
As if it were not enough with applying economic sanctions against the DPRK under the pretext of the "issue," it is even scheming to destroy the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan.
The "abduction issue" had already been settled thanks to the DPRK's sincere efforts.
When a delegation of Japanese political parties led by former Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama visited the DPRK in December 1999 the Japanese side requested the DPRK side to confirm the whereabouts of 13 Japanese who had been reported missing.
The DPRK government, taking the humanitarian nature of the issue of the missing persons into consideration, organized a special investigation committee in April 2002 to conduct the investigation on a nationwide scale.
The results of the investigation proved that there were cases in which some Japanese had been abducted by individual Koreans from late in the 1970s to early in the 1980s.
During the Pyongyang visit by former Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi on September 17, 2002 the Japanese side was informed of the results of the investigation that 13 missing Japanese were confirmed to be abductees: Five of them are still alive and eight died.
Formal regret was also expressed over the emergence of the "abduction issue" at the DPRK-Japan summit talks.
It was by no means a simple decision that the DPRK government opted to settle among other things the issue of a little more than ten Japanese abductees out of sincerity, given the fact that Japan had not compensated for the huge damage done to the Koreans by the Japanese imperialists in the earlier period of the same century when they committed such hideous crimes against humanity as forcibly drafting more than 8.4 million Koreans, killing more than one million and forcing 200,000 Korean women into sexual slavery for the Imperial Japanese Army.
On October 15, 2002 the DPRK government allowed five survivors of abduction to visit their home towns in Japan at the request of the Japanese side.
On October 30 after their arrival in Japan the Japanese government, all of a sudden, unilaterally made public a decision that it would not send them back to the DPRK.
This is the first example showing how the Japanese side reneged on its promise and behaved against good faith in the course of settling the "abduction issue".
It was later confirmed that the then Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe was behind the decision.
On May 22, 2004, former Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi again visited Pyongyang. The DPRK side allowed him to take all the five sons and daughters of the survivors to Japan with him as requested by him.
In November 2004 the DPRK provided every facility to a Japanese government joint delegation made up of officials concerned of the Cabinet, the Foreign Ministry and the National Police Agency and medico-legal experts so that they could visit the DPRK for a week and confirm on the spot the death of the above-said Japanese.
Thanks to the sincere efforts exerted by the DPRK government five survivors of the 13 abductees and all of their seven sons and daughters went to Japan and the remains of Megumi Yokota were also sent to Japan as requested by her parents, thus settling the "abduction issue".
The Abe group has persistently kicked up a racket over the "abduction issue" while flatly denying the fact that the "abduction issue" had found a solution.
Japan's first negative reaction to the settlement of "the issue" came when it floated the fiction about the false remains of Megumi Yokota. Abe who was acting secretary general of the Japan Liberal Democratic Party in a lecture given in Tokyo Metropolis on November 17, 2004 let loose a string of anti-DPRK vituperation and his group claimed that the results of the DNA test of the remains of Megumi Yokota handed over by her husband proved that they were "bones of two other persons." Timed to coincide with this, Abe asserted the need to immediately apply economic sanctions against the DPRK and the Japanese government declared that it would freeze humanitarian aid which Koizumi promised during his Pyongyang visit.
Recalling that the "report on the DNA test of the remains of Megumi Yokota" sent to the DPRK by the Japanese side on Dec. 25, 2004 contained contradictions in the explanation about the method involved in the examination and the content of the DNA samples and it was a document hard to believe as it lacked signatures of the analysts and witnesses as well as the seal of the institution that conducted the examination, the memorandum goes on:
As the doubt about the results of the DNA test of the remains of Megumi Yokota widely floated at home and abroad, the Japanese authorities soon transferred Tomio Yoshii who had been in charge of the examination of the remains to the Police Institute of Science to hold the post of its section chief and cut off all contacts with outsiders.
The husband of Megumi, angered to hear the fiction of "false remains" spread by the Abe group, demanded the Japanese side return her remains at once but the latter has still refused to meet this demand.
The Abe group is now concocting stories about more "abductees" as the probe into and handling of the issue of the 13 abductees raised by the Japanese side at the outset have come to an end.
The Abe regime is working hard to keep the "abduction issue" debated in a bid to use it for the purpose of stepping up the rearmament of Japan.
It is the calculation of the ultra-nationalist forces of Japan represented by Abe that when it bars the DPRK-Japan relations from being normalized over the "abduction issue" and succeeds in torpedoing the six-party talks in a bid to deter the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula from being settled, it will be able to use the "access to nukes by the DPRK in hostile relationship with Japan" as a pretext for preserving the justification for its militarization and nuclear armament.
The "theory of departure from the postwar regime" much touted by Abe right after holding premiership was nothing but his real intention to free Japan of the position of a defeated nation subject to military restrictions.
Japan once used the issue of the DPRK's missile launch as a good pretext for its rearmament. But when it succeeded in putting into the orbit even a spy satellite by such delivery means as missiles, it needed a more proper pretext other than that pretext.
That is why the Japanese right-wing forces had no option but to raise the "abduction issue."
According to the scenario of the ultra-nationalists, a frantic propaganda campaign was kicked off to underscore the "seriousness" and "rate" of the "abduction issue."
After holding the premiership in September 2006, Abe set up the "headquarters for measures to settle the abduction issue" headed by himself and created such posts as "minister in charge of the abduction issue" and "adviser on the abduction issue," making his cabinet known as a "cabinet to handle the abduction issue," the first of its kind in history.
As claimed by Japan, the "abduction issue" can be settled only when the dead return to life and all those Japanese missing reappear.
Even according to what was reported up to 2004, eight persons whom the Japanese side had claimed "abducted" by the DPRK were discovered in Japan.
Japan is now taking much pain to make even the six-party talks a scapegoat of the "abduction issue."
As regards the decision of the participating countries to provide energy aid to the DPRK as a step to be taken at the preliminary phase for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Abe uttered on February 5, 2007 that he would like to explicitly state there would be basically nothing to be given by Japan to north Korea should it fail to take sincere measures for the solution of the abduction issue.
If Japan is allowed to pursue such design, the nuclear issue on the peninsula will remain unsettled for an indefinite period like the "abduction issue," an issue of bringing the dead to life. This is the ultimate goal pursued by the ultra-nationalist forces of Japan keen on the nuclear weaponization. Herein lies the danger of the political aims sought by the Abe group. It is so morally vulgar that it is hyping the "issue" of a little more than ten abductees though Japan forcibly took away and abducted millions of Koreans to force them to toil and moil at the construction sites of power stations, coal and ore mines, railways and airfields.
Noting that Japan's operations for luring and abducting Koreans are still going on, the memorandum says: The DPRK government suggested more than once the Japanese side to probe the cases in which it lured and abducted citizens of the DPRK in the area along the DPRK-China border, inform the DPRK of the results and send back the victims but Japan is avoiding any response to it. The increased zeal of Japan to evade the responsibility for redeeming its past and rearm itself under the pretext of threats from neighboring countries would only precipitate its self-destruction, not revival, warns the memorandum.
KCNA Indicts Japan for Its Moves to Emerge Military Power
Pyongyang, June 29 (KCNA) -- The Korean Central News Agency on Friday released an indictment blasting the Japanese reactionaries' ever-more undisguised moves to turn Japan into a military giant.
The indictment says: To turn Japan into a military giant is the policy goal of the Japanese authorities and their strategic line.
Since its emergence the Abe cabinet has worked hard to perfect the legal groundwork for turning Japan into a military giant, talking about "departure from the postwar regime" and the "adoption of a new Constitution".
In fact, the adoption of the "law on referendum" on May 14 provided Japan with a firm legal foundation for emerging a military power.
The aim sought by the Abe cabinet in adopting the retrogressive revision of the Constitution as its political task is to convert Japan into a war state at any cost.
The restructuring of state mechanism is one of the important tasks proposed by the Japanese authorities to convert the country into a military power.
Japan upgraded the Defense Agency to the Ministry on January 9, thus securing a powerful means for developing the Japan "Self-Defense Forces" (SDF) into regular armed forces and acquiring the position of a military power. Afterwards, the Defense Ministry of Japan started overall reexamination of its mechanism.
The establishment of an integral operational system whereby the commanding systems of the ground, maritime and air SDF are uniformly coordinated has been approved to coordinate the operational command over the armed forces.
Japan is contemplating setting up a "national security council" of the Japanese version involving organizations in the fields of diplomacy, security and information, etc. in the wake of the creation of a "council to bolster information-gathering function" chaired by the chief cabinet secretary.
Most noteworthy in the Japanese authorities' moves for turning Japan into a military power is the full conversion of the SDF into aggressor forces of offensive nature.
They began equipping the SDF with ultra-modern war hardware which ensure high maneuverability, powerful striking force and increased operational capabilities on ground and in sea and air. These moves for an offensive purpose are being updated in all aspects and pushed forward at a final phase.
The maritime force is their first thrust.
The duty of the maritime SDF has been gradually shifted from "coastal defence" to carrying out the "strategy of ocean attack".
Japan tops the world's list of anti-submarine and mine-sweeping and conventional submarine combat capabilities.
Large-size prototype warships have been put on an offensive and IT basis with each passing day.
Lurking behind the Japanese reactionaries' intensified moves to bolster its maritime SDF is a sinister intention to secure a powerful naval combat capacity and use it as a main springboard from which to launch a continental reinvasion just as they did in the last century.
The air SDF has also been equipped with modern means as good as those of world military powers against the backdrop of the ever-increasing call for a qualitative edge.
Japan is planning to introduce 100 U.S.-made F-22A fighters of the fourth generation from 2009 in a bid to secure longer-distance attack capacity. In the meantime, it also seeks to deploy Apache and AH-1 in a bid to be atop the anti-armor operational capability in Asia.
The ground SDF has increased its maneuverability and firepower striking capacity while putting emphasis on coordinating operations in air and on ground. Its equipment are of special and diverse nature and wide in their operational sphere. Tanks and other vehicles are now being developed in the direction of cutting down their weight and boosting their performance, while maintaining a high degree of their mechanization so that they may be transferred and deployed in any operational theatre.
The Japanese authorities' moves to stockpile strategic materiel should not be overlooked by the international community.
The development of the latest military hardware to qualitatively bolster the SDF is in full swing.
The above-said moves to turn Japan into a military power are being zealously supported by the right-wing foundations and major military industrial complexes.
The SDF's military exercises are a preliminary war, a test war to "examine" the military power of Japan in the sky, ground and sea.
The moves to turn Japan into a military power are, to all intents and purposes, dangerous actions to hold the military and technological edges, military hegemony for preemptive attacks and continental aggression.
The Japanese authorities' above-mentioned reckless moves are driving the situation
on the Korean Peninsula to the brink of war.
The Abe cabinet intends to attain the ambition to stage a comeback to Korea through preemptive attacks, vociferating about "guarantee of security of Japan" and "military threat" from the DPRK.
The Japan-U.S. joint missile attack system is also being rounded off.
Espionage and plot-breeding operations against the DPRK are getting more pronounced.
What should not go unnoticed is the fact that Japan began working out the "joint operation plan" stimulating "contingency" on the Korean Peninsula together with the U.S. from December last year.
The drafting of the "joint operation plan," a more concrete version of "5055", a scenario for a war against the DPRK worked out by Japan and the U.S. in 2002, is expected to be finished by the coming autumn.
Meanwhile, an increasing number of latest fighter planes and combat warships including nuclear-powered carriers are being forward-deployed in the western areas of Japan close to the Korean Peninsula.
Discussions on "military sanctions" and "economic sanctions" against the DPRK are becoming hotter among the Japanese government authorities and heavyweights of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
The Abe cabinet, militarism being a mode of its existence, is rushing headlong into turning Japan into a military power in a bid to realize at any cost the old dream of the "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere" its predecessors failed to do.
Japan is a force of aggression and war that arouses the special vigilance of the international community.
The world peace and security are now being threatened by Japan, a militarist state, which has emerged the biggest war force in the world next to the U.S.
Japan's moves to emerge a military power will lead to an aggression against Korea and a war to conquer Asia and the rest of the world. Herein lies the danger of Japan's ever-more pronounced moves to emerge a military power.
Rodong Sinmun on Patriotism
Pyongyang, May 27 (KCNA) -- Patriotism comes out of high pride and confidence in the superiority and strength of one's own country and nation, says Rodong Sinmun today in a signed article.
It goes on: A genuine patriot loves his own things and steadily glorifies them.
Ours are all the precious things in this land; the ideological, moral and material wealth we have achieved in the course of the revolution and construction with our own wisdom, enthusiasm and efforts under the leadership of the great leaders and the great party, the time-honored history and brilliant cultural tradition created by our nation and the beautiful mountains and rivers of the country.
For the Korean people, their own things are associated with the socialist motherland. The socialist motherland is the whole of ours.
Warm love for one's own serves as the source of high national self-respect and revolutionary pride.
The Korean people have lived in this land down through generations and created a lot of wealth, which the nation can boast in the world, by their own diligent efforts and amazing talents. Such proud people can hardly be found in the world as the Korean people who have the great guiding idea clearly indicating the way for carving out the nation's destiny and live and make revolution in the advantageous socialist system where the perfect unity in mind has been realized and the independent position and the creative role of the popular masses are ensured on the highest level.
In the past period of the "Arduous March" and the forced march, the Korean people built world-startling monumental edifices with high ambition and in a do-or-die spirit without vacillation despite grave ordeals.
Nothing can break the spirit of the popular masses who advance full of confidence and vigor, regarding as the most precious the edifices built by themselves and the blood and sweats permeated in them.
The warm love for one's own things serves as the motive force for consolidating the self-supporting national economy in any circumstances.
The future of our country is very rosy as there are many genuine patriots who unhesitatingly devote their blood and sweats before saying that they love the country, the people who devotedly strive to make ours much more and better than others'.
Rodong Sinmun on Might of Ideology
Pyongyang, May 3 (KCNA) -- The Workers' Party of Korea is now making great strides in the building of a great prosperous powerful nation while smashing the imperialists' anti-DPRK moves to reliably defend Korean-style socialism by giving priority to the ideological work.
Rodong Sinmun observes this in a signed article today.
Korean-style socialism is a society where the dignity and worth of the people are determined by their idea, and it advances by means of giving full play to the revolutionary zeal of the masses of the people through ideological and political work and with its might, the article says, and goes on:
In our society the worth and quality of man are judged by his idea, not by his wealth or job.
Those who are firmly armed with the idea of the party and remain true to the idea and line of the party are respected socially while enjoying the most dignified and worthwhile life in our society.
Today the might of the spirit of Thaechon is being displayed in the brisk drive to build a great prosperous powerful socialist nation. This is the result of the wise leadership of our party which has given definite priority to the ideological work among the members of the youth brigades. The reality clearly shows that the Korean way of creation and revolution, the way of braving hardships and ordeal by giving priority to the ideological and political work, is very just and powerful.
Korean-style socialism is an advantageous society where the comradely relationship of unity and cooperation based on the idea of the leader prevails.
As the history of the socialist movement has proven, any revolutionary ranks whose unity is not based on the idea of their leader might be crumbled in a day by the imperialists' moves, though they have the developed economy and strong military power.
Our own socialism is a society where the people strong in ideology and faith are closely united as one, absolutely believing in and following the idea of their great leader.
The unity and cohesion of our revolutionary ranks are on a higher level today when the Songun policy of the party has been applied in all spheres.
The single-minded unity of our society is that of the party, the army and the people around the headquarters of revolution based on the Songun idea.
This unity is the political and ideological might of our style socialism which is stronger than a nuclear weapon and no force can break, and it serves as a guarantee for the solidity of our society and a source of the invincible power.