Preparatory committees formed abroad
Pyongyang, March 18 (KCNA) -- Preparatory committees were formed in different countries to commemorate Sun's Day, the birth anniversary of the President Kim Il Sung.
Inaugural meetings took place in Britain, Sri Lanka, Democratic Congo and Tanzania.
The meetings decided to organize multifarious events on the occasion of Sun's Day.
The British national preparatory committee called upon the progressive governments, political parties and organizations and prominent figures of the world to conduct a more vigorous campaign to strengthen friendship and solidarity with the Korean people on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung.
S. Korean trip of Japanese military boss blasted
Pyongyang, March 18 (KCNA) -- Yuji Fujinawa, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff of Japan "Self-Defence Forces" (SDF), during his South Korean tour was closeted together with the "chairman of the joint chiefs of staff" of South Korea, the "Minister of National Defense" and other brass-hats over the "military situation in North Korea" and agreed to strengthen military cooperation between Japan and South Korea.
Denouncing this, Rodong Sinmun today in a signed commentary says:
Many Japanese military bosses have so far visited South Korea to discuss military issues with its authorities and clamored about cooperation between them. But, it was something rare that no sooner had he flown into South Korea than he inspected a forefront area along the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), fanning up north-south confrontation and laying bare Japan's intention for re-conquest.
Noting that the Japanese reactionaries are watching for a chance to open fire for reinvasion, the commentary describes Fujinawa's South Korean trip and his "inspection" of the MDL area as part of such moves.
It further says:
There is no doubt that while looking over to the north side from the MDL, his ambition to stage a comeback to Korea and his will to realise it at any cost Korea stronger.
What merits serious attention is that his visit was timed to coincide with the anti-DPRK campaign the Japanese ultra right reactionaries launched, crying out for "destroying North Korea."
The South Korean junket of the "SDF" military boss intended to escalate inter-Korean confrontation and step up the moves for reinvasion came at a time when the issue of improving the relations between Japan and the DPRK is high on the agenda. This cannot but be a very serious development.
The Japanese reactionaries are well advised to drop their anachronistic wild dream and behave themselves.
S. Korean authorities suppress workers
Pyongyang, March 18 (KCNA) -- The South Korean authorities on March 14 detained and interrogated six employees of a publishing house on the charge that they conducted activities after forming the "Revolutionary Socialist Workers Party", a Seoul-based radio reported.
The authorities also charged them with attempting to build socialism in the world in solidarity with its workers and publishing and distributing at least a hundred kinds of study materials including an organ.
Military racket intended to calm down anti-"government" sentiment
Pyongyang, March 18 (KCNA) -- The South Korean authorities staged a "civilian defence training" across South Korea in the daytime of March 15, a Seoul-based radio reported.
They made much ado, flying even imaginary "enemy planes" in the sky above Seoul and other major cities after sounding an air-raid alarm throughout South Korea at 2 p.m.
This is the 297th "civilian defence training" in scores of years.
In a related development, they were busy creating a war atmosphere, announcing that the unit "Paekma" of the "ROK army" would stage a nocturnal light bomb firing exercise in the area around Seoul on the night of March 17.
GIs' killings of South Korean women denounced
Pyongyang, March 18 (KCNA) -- A women's meeting took place in Sinchon county, South Hwanghae Province, yesterday to denounce the U.S. aggression troops' brutal killings of South Korean women.
Located at Pamnamu-ggol in Wonam-ri, Sinchon county, the meeting place, are the tombs of 400 mothers and 102 children exposing the mass killings committed by the U.S. aggression troops when the Korean People's Army was on a temporary retreat during the Korean War (June 1950-july 1953).
The meeting bitterly condemned the shuddering murder of South Korean women by GIs in South Korea in Rithaewon-dong, Seoul, and Uijongbu city, Kyonggi Province.
Speakers said that the U.S. aggressors who do not hesitate to rape and kill South Korean women, regarding them as playthings are the beasts who cannot live without seeing human blood and cannibals in human skin.
Recalling that during their occupation of Sinchon county in the period of the Korean War the U.S. killed at least 35,000 civilians or a quarter of its population, they called for forcing them to pay for the blood shed by the Korean people a thousand fold.
An appeal to the South Korean people from all walks of life was adopted at the meeting.
The appeal said that the realities in South Korea today teach the fellow countrymen a serious lesson that a group of robbers that had broken into one's house should not be allowed to stay any longer and as long as the U.S. aggressor troops remain in South Korea, our fellow countrymen cannot escape from disasters and death.
Noting that any petition or appeal are not enough to settle accounts with the murderers, the appeal called for severely punishing them and demonstrating the mettle of the Korean nation.
UNESCO goodwill ambassador visits Korean hall of Chongryon
Tokyo, March 16 (KNS-KCNA) -- Japanese prominent artist Ikuo Hirayama and his party who visited the DPRK several times as a goodwill ambassador of the UNESCO visited the Korean hall in Tokyo on March 14.
Ikuo Hirayama said that Koguryo mural tombs in the suburbs of Pyongyang would probably be registered as part of the world heritage next year through a formal application in July.
Pointing to the significance of preserving forever the Koguryo mural tombs, common treasure in East Asia and source of Japanese culture, as part of the world heritage, he said that he would continue to make efforts in the future to ensure that Mt. Myohyang, the Pohyon Temple and Mt. Kumgang are also registered as part of the world heritage.
So Man Sul, first vice-chairman of the central standing committee of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon), said that Hirayama's efforts for the register of Koguryo mural tombs as part of the world heritage help in no small measure promote the movement to improve the DPRK-Japan relations including the DPRK visit of a delegation of Japanese political parties. He expressed the expectation that he would play a big role in the development of the DPRK-Japan cultural exchange in the future, too.
Representatives of Chongryon meet with consul general of Italy
Tokyo, March 16 (KNS-KCNA) -- Chairman O Su Jin and other representatives of the Osaka prefectural headquarters of Chongryon (General Association of Korean Residents in Japan) visited the general consulate of Italy in Osaka on March 10 as regards the establishment of diplomatic relations between the DPRK and the Republic of Italy.
They met with the consul general and conversed with him.
O Su Jin said that the Osaka prefectural headquarters would strengthen friendship between the two countries.
The consul general said that he cognized a big role of Chongryon in Osaka where about 180,000 Koreans are residing, and expressed understanding and praise of Chongryon work.
New stamps
Pyongyang, March 18 (KCNA) -- The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications has recently issued a miniature sheet of 4 values featuring a Korean masterpiece painting "rural life" (60x146 cm a piece, 18th century).
The four paintings, "weeding", "hempcloth weaving", "thrashing" and "marketing", are parts of the eight-piece series that depict the farmers' production activities as well as class contradictions and economic and cultural customs of the feudal society.
The paintings, drawn either on multi-fold screens or hanging scrolls, give a bird's-eye view of the details of rural work from household chores to field work.
"Rural life" is a valuable heritage of Korean art and now preserved as a national treasure at the Korean Art Gallery.
GIs' mass killings denounced worldwide
Pyongyang, March 18 (KCNA) -- Voices denouncing the mass killings of civilians committed by the U.S. aggressor forces during the Korean War are ringing out from different countries.
The Asian Regional Institute of the Juche Idea in a statement said that GIs' mass killings of civilians in Korea were crimes against humanity, a most wanton violation of the publicly recognized international treaty and wartime regulations which ban targeting non-combatants, as they were premeditated massacres committed by orders of their command.
Member of the parliament Stefan Gaytandiev, chairman of the Green Party of Bulgaria, stressed that the U.S. aggressors are, indeed, ferocious beasts in human skin and rare murderers and the last Korean War was provoked by the U.S. to exterminate the Korean nation.
Tani Baler, leader of the new left movement of Peru, in a statement said that GIs' mass killings during the Korean War were unprecedented in the world in terms of brutal methods employed in killings and the number of those killed. The United States should be forced to face the trial of history, he added.
Ehiya Zakaria Hairla, secretary general of the Arab Art, Culture and Information Association of Egypt, in a statement said that GIs' murder lays bare the arrogance and brutality of the United States steeped in misanthropy and national chauvinism. The secretary general of the Guyanese Peace Judges Association in a letter sent to the international tribunal strongly demanded it make a thorough-going investigation into GIs' mass killings of civilians in Korea and punish those responsible for them under the international law.
Friedebert Kollmann, chairman of the Austrian Jurists' Committee for the Defence of Democracy and Human Rights in South Korea, the Ugandan National Youth Council, the Nepalese Newspaper Sremik and other organizations and public figures and mass media of different countries published statements and articles denouncing GIs' mass killings.
Kim Il Sung's feats praised
Pyongyang, March 18 (KCNA) -- General secretary of the New Communist Party of Great Britain Andy Brooks, who had visited the DPRK some time ago, highly praised the immortal feats of the President Kim Il Sung.
Saying that Kim Il Sung is a great man who defeated Japanese and U.S. and built and defended socialist Korea, he noted: under his wise guidance the Korean people could glorify their right of independence and dignity.
There is not a place in the DPRK that is not associated with the undying footprints of Kim Il Sung, he said, adding:
That is why the Korean people are now more and more yearning after Kim Il Sung with deep reverence and always hold him in high esteem.
His feats are shining bright as the feats of the highest peak that cannot be performed by the intelligence and strength of great men altogether in the world.
In the whole period of his revolutionary activities he received many foreign party and state leaders, political and public figures and officials of different social standings and delegations and advanced the orientation and ways of the international communist movement and of accomplishing the cause of global independence.
Progressive people of the world are now studying his famous works to grasp his immortal feats and greatness.
His great feats for the country, the people, the era and humankind will be everlasting and he will always live in the hearts of the Korean people and the world progressive humankind.
No justification for Japan to talk about "suspected kidnapping"
Pyongyang, March 18 (KCNA) -- Many dishonest elements of Japan persist in the anti-DPRK smear campaign over what they call "suspected kidnapping."
Rodong Sinmun today runs a by-lined article in this regard.
It says:
During the 40-odd-year-long occupation of Korea Japan took away at least six million youth and middle-aged Koreans and kidnapped nearly 200,000 Korean women. So, there is no justification whatsoever for Japan to talk about "suspected kidnapping."
The "suspected kidnapping" on the lips of the Japanese reactionaries is no more than a sheer fabrication made to serve the purpose of the false propaganda of the South Korean authorities, obsessed with hostility toward the DPRK.
They have pursued an anti-DPRK policy in a bid to achieve a sinister political aim.
Japan is plagued with so many serious kidnapping cases.
The past one year witnessed 30,000 cases of kidnapping and the missing persons in Japan.
The Japanese reactionaries slander the DPRK over non-existent "suspected kidnapping," turning aside the organised and hideous kidnapping crime they committed in the past and kidnappings happening in Japan. They seek in this to distort the essence of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the DPRK and Japan and flee from the responsibility for the liquidation of the past crimes.
For an assailant to apologize and compensate to the victim is an unavoidable legal and moral obligation.
Before raising a hue and Korea over the fictitious "suspected kidnapping," Japan should honestly repent of its crime-woven past.
U.S. hit for its double-dealing tactics
Pyongyang, March 18 (KCNA) -- On March 2 at least 60 fighter bombers and assault planes of the U.S. air force present in South Korea and some 170 fighters of the "ROK" army staged an exercise of dogfight and formations of more than 120 warplanes staged an exercise of striking targets under the simulated conditions of strike at major objects in the North Korea.
The U.S. plans to replace ah-64a anti-tank helicopters being deployed in South Korea with improved ah-64d.
Minju Joson today describes this as evidence that the U.S. still seeks military confrontation pursuant to the "policy of strength" in the matter of settling the Korean issue.
The news analyst says:
Indisputable evidence of this is a joint aerial war exercise of the U.S. and the South Korean authorities to gain "air supremacy."
Nobody can say that the on-going DPRK-U.S. talks will be successful, because the U.S., though paying lip-service to "peace" and "dialogue", is, in actuality, inciting war fever.
No doubt, the U.S. words do not agree with its deeds.
If the U.S. wants to settle the Korean issue by a war and force, the DPRK will take a countermeasure.
The U.S. should be mindful that war leads to its self-destruction.
Protest against U.S. Defence Secretary's visit to S. Korea
Pyongyang, March 18 (KCNA) -- More than 250 citizens held a rally yesterday in front of the South Korean "Ministry of National Defence" yesterday in protest against the South Korea visit of the U.S. Defence Secretary, according to news reports from Seoul.
They, members of the headquarters of the movement for eradicating GIs' crimes, strongly protested against the bestial murder, by the U.S. aggression troops carrying placard bearing letters "apologize for continuing barbarism of U.S. soldiers".
They made public a statement calling for taking measures to prevent recurrence of GIs' crimes and totally revising the unequal and submissive South Korea-U.S. "status of forces agreement," which legitimates the extraterritorial status of the U.S. troops present in South Korea and allows them to freely use South Korean property, damage environments and commit all sorts of crimes, and handed it to the "Ministry of National Defence".
The demonstrators resisted the riot police running wild in suppression.
A foreign news report said: "Yankees, go home" the demonstrators shouted the hum of downtown traffic. The rally this week was a "shadow of the ferocious protests in the 1980s that vilified the United States as an imperialist accomplice of South Korea's military-led 'government.'"
Mathematics contest
Pyongyang, March 18 (KCNA) -- The 8th National Senior-Middle School Mathematics Contest was held in Pyongyang, offering a challenge for the acute faculties of 400 attendees.
Pyongyang came out on top and North Hamgyong Province finished runner-up with South Phyongan Province in third.
DPRK Foreign Minister and his party leave
Pyongyang, March 18 (KCNA) -- Paek Nam Sun, DPRK Foreign Minister, and his party left here today to visit the People's Republic of China, the Lao People's Democratic Republic and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
They were seen off at the airport by Kang Sok Ju, first vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, and officials concerned and Li Bin, charge d'affaires ad interim of China, Lao ambassador Khamkheng Sayakeo and Vietnamese ambassador Do Thi Hoa to the DPRK.
Greetings to secretary of General People's Committee of Libya
Pyongyang, March 18 (KCNA) -- Premier of the DPRK cabinet Hong Song Nam sent a message of greetings to Embarak Abdullah al Shamekh on his election as secretary of the general people's committee of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.
Extending warm congratulations to him, the message expressed the belief that good friendly relations between the two countries would further expand and develop in the future.
It wished him success in his responsible work for the independent development and prosperity of the country.
DPRK Foreign Ministry spokesman on DPRK-U.S. talks
Pyongyang, March 18 (KCNA) -- The spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of the DPRK today answered a question put by KCNA as regards the recent New York talks between the DPRK and the U.S.
He said:
Vice-ministerial talks between the DPRK and the U.S. took place in New York from March 8 to 15 as a continuation of the regular talks between the two countries.
The talks had comprehensive and sufficient discussions of the outstanding issues between the two countries, including the way of making up for the DPRK loss of electricity caused by the long delay in the construction of light water reactors that the U.S. is obliged to deliver to the DPRK by the year 2003 under the DPRK-U.S. framework agreement and removal of the DPRK from the "list of state sponsors of terrorism".
The two sides agreed to continue various channels of talks to debate on the pending issues between the DPRK and the U.S.
At the talks the U.S. side admitted the just demand of the DPRK for making up for the electricity and the two sides had discussions on the ways of meeting the demand.