Kochujang
Pyongyang, June 22 (KCNA) -- "I crave some Kochujang," write Koreans on overseas trip to their families.
Kochujang, a paste made from red hot pepper, is no less than Kimchi (pickled vegetables), a native typical Korean staple food. With its hot taste and peculiar flavour and smell, the red-coloured kochujang follows Koreans at home or others living abroad.
When eating fatty dishes, Koreans crave hot and delicious dishes. Kimchi and Kochujang are typically hot and appetizing.
Kochujang is too hot to be eaten by a spoonful at a time and therefore it is eaten sparingly.
It is eaten as a seasoning. Its outstanding taste is brought out when it is eaten with sliced raw fish, or lettuce and boiled rice. It also serves as a major component of soup.
Without any other seasoning, Kochujang can be eaten, mixed with boiled hot barley or rice. Kochujang with boiled hot barley can conjure up the Korean pastoral life in the mind of the eaters. this habit of eating Kochujang is enjoyed in the country.
This is usually done in the season when the barley has just been harvested and the farmers are again busy raising rice. When Kochujang is eaten under a cloudless sky with lettuce and rice, it is especially pleasant to the taste.
To add its own flavour and to make it last longer without spoiling, Kochujang is boiled with sugar, sesame oil, and sesame seeds. sometimes ground beef can be added.
There are re-processed Kochujang, such as sesame Kochujang, meat Kochujang, flavour Kochujang, oil Kochujang and yak-Kochujang.
At present, Kochujang is massproduced by food processors.
But some Korean housewives prefer to making Kochujang themselves, instead of ready-made one.
According to local areas, each housewife uses a slightly different recipe for making Kochujang, thereby she is able to show off her individual culinary talents.
Korean pheasant
Pyongyang, June 22 (KCNA) -- In the DPRK, pheasants enjoy massive propagation, resulting in a jump in their stock in recent years. They are found in all parts of the country down from the Mt. Paektu area on the northern extremity.
About 40 varieties of pheasants occur worldwide.
A Korean pheasant has a long neck and tail.
In many countries, the propagation of pheasants is anchored on the Korean pheasant as a pure breed, for it is known for its big body, good taste of its flesh, its fecundity and viability.
Its flesh is ideal for a tonic and efficacious against stomach, gall and roundworm troubles. Its beautiful feathers are used for ornamentals.
With a world conference on birds slated for 2002, the DPRK natural conservation union is intensifying dissemination of know-how on Korean pheasants and their protection and propagation.
Kim Jong Il gives on-the-spot guidance to Nyongbyon and Pakchon silk mills
Pyongyang, June 22 (KCNA) - General Secretary Kim Jong Il gave on-the-spot guidance to the Nyongbyon and Pakchon silk mills in north Phyongan province on June 21.
He was accompanied by chief secretary Kim Phyong Hae of the North Phyongan Provincial Committee of the WPK, secretary Kim Kuk Thae of the WPK Central Committee and first vice department directors of the WPK Central Committee.
He went to the Nyongbyon Silk Mill.
After looking round the board bearing on-the-spot teachings of the great leader President Kim Il Sung and the monument to his on-the-spot guidance to the mill, he went to weaving shops and other places to learn in detail about the production and give a pep-talk to the workers in the efforts for increased production.
He highly praised the workers and technicians of the Nyongbyon Silk Mill for their great achievements, saying that they turned out a large quantity of high-quality silk, including figured satin, brocade and satin with patterns, greatly contributing to the settlement of the question of clothing for the people.
He said the mill should drastically increase the production of silk liked by the Korean people to provide girls and boys who are going to get married and old men and women who are to celebrate their sixtieth and seventieth birthdays with silk clothes and silk quilts.
He went to the Pakchon Silk Mill.
He learned about the management and production of the mill in detail, looking round production processes where a wide variety of silk of beautiful colors, velvet cloth and thick warm blankets are turned out in rolls.
He was much pleased to see the workers of the mill keeping it tidy and clean in terms of sanitation and cultural practice and highly praised them for their feats.
At the end of his inspection to the two mills he set forth tasks that would serve as guidelines for remarkably increasing the production of silk.
He said the WPK has solved all the problems with main emphasis on the improvement of the standard of people's living, adding that to settle the issue of clothing is one of the two major tasks, which is no less important than solving the food problem.
It is the fixed resolution and will of the party, he noted, to provide better clothes to the people. He highlighted the need to direct big efforts to the production of silk and bring about a new turn in the settlement of the issue of clothing.
He said for remarkable increase in the production of silk it is necessary to realise comprehensive mechanisation and automation of production processes and for the producers to have high technique and skill to do so.
In order to supply silk with beautiful and attractive patterns to the people it is necessary to significantly improve the quality of silk, the speciality of Korea, he stressed.
Underscoring the importance of supplying a sufficient quantity of silk yarn and other raw materials in time, he called on all the provinces, cities and counties to extensively raise silkworms.
He earnestly appealed to the officials, workers and technicians in the field of light industry to boost the production of silk of better quality by displaying creative ingenuity and patriotic devotion and thus enable the best korean people to live as happily as others.
Peru group for study of revolutionary activities of Kim Jong Suk meets
Pyongyang, June 22 (KCNA) -- A meeting of the Peru group for the study of the revolutionary activities of Kim Jong Suk was held in Lima on June 15.
At the meeting the chairperson of the group said it is the greatest honor of the Peruvian women to deeply study and learn from the revolutionary activities of anti-Japanese heroine Kim Jong Suk, a model of the Korean women and the world progressive women.
The chairperson called upon the group members to deeply study her revolutionary history, the great Juche idea and realities of Korea and apply them to life with the pride and honour of bearing the name of an indomitable revolutionary fighter and conduct activity for solidarity with the Korean people in their struggle for national reunification.
A letter to the leader Kim Jong Il was adopted at the meeting.
National Committee To Remember Kim Il Sung formed in Britain
Pyongyang, June 22 (KCNA) -- The British National Committee To Remember The Great Leader Comrade Kim Il Sung was formed in London on June 16.
Keith Bennett, chairman of the Korea Friendship and Solidarity Campaign of Britain, was elected chairman of the committee.
An inaugural ceremony of the committee decided to hold colorful functions on the occasion of the day of Kim Il Sung's demise.
Korean books presented to Guyana
Pyongyang, June 22 (KCNA) -- A ceremony of presenting Korean books was held at the building of the People's National Congress of Guyana on June 16.
Famous works of the great leaders President Kim Il Sung and General Secretary Kim Jong Il and other Korean books were handed to General Secretary of the Congress Oscar Clarke at the ceremony.
Oscar Clarke in his speech at the ceremony said that his congress would further develop the relations of friendship and comradeship with the Workers' Party of Korea and always fully support the Korean people in their struggle to achieve the independent and peaceful reunification of the country.
Foreigners help Korean farmers
Pyongyang, June 22 (KCNA) -- Ahmed Amer al Muakkaf, secretary of the people's bureau of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, and members of the people's bureau went to the Korea-Libya Friendship Jangchon co-op farm in Pyongyang to help its farmers on June 21.
Muhammad Ayaz Khan, charge d'affaires ad interim of the Pakistani embassy here, and embassy officials helped the Korea-Pakistan Friendship Taesong co-op farm in Pyongyang.
At break they sang songs and conversed with farmers, deepening feelings of friendship.
They handed aid materials to the farms.
"Memorial Day for the Dead " (materials)
June 23rd is the Okinawan Holiday Irei No Hi, or "Memorial Day for the Dead".
It is at this time that people come together to remember family and friends killed during the Second World War.
Clearly these victime are much deserving of their own day. During the Battle of Okinawa, the bloodiest and most destructive campaign of the Pacific War, Okinawans were killed by America's indiscriminate shelling of the islands; countless others were ruthlessly murdered by the "friendly forces" of the Japanese Imperial Army. Okinawans were executed as spies by the retreating Japanese for speaking their native language or shot for the protection of the caves they occupied. A large percentage of people, taken in by Japan's wartime propaganda, committed mass suicide to avoid by captured by the invading Americans.
By the end of the fighting some 130,000 civilians lost their lives, equaling approximately one-third of Okinawa's population.
Another 10,000 non-Japanese civilians, mostly Korean and Chinese slave laborers, were killed as well.
While the scope of carnage that engulfed Okinawa is disturbing to ponder, the postwar era has unfortunately seen this trend of death continue. In 1948, a US Navy cargo ship carryng explosives from the war detonated, killing 106 people and injuring 76 others. In 1955, an American soldier was sentenced to death for the murder of six year old Okinawan girl; the sentence was later reduced to 45 years imprisonment.
In 1959, a US Air Force fighter crashed into an elementary school killing 17 students and teachers ; the pilot safely ejected.
Again in 1959, an elderly woman was shot to death by a US soldier after being "mistaken for a wild boar", the soldier was later found not guilty.
In 1963, a US soldier confessed to strangling a young waitress.
In 1966, a man trying to arbitrate an argument between two US soldiers was shot and killed by one of the Americans.
In 1970, a sixteen year old girl was stabbed by a US soldier; the soldier was later sentenced to three years in prison.
In two separate incidents in 1972, US soldiers were sentenced to life imprisonment for strangling local women.
In 1975, a US soldier was sent to prison for raping two junior high school students.
In 1983, two US soldiers were sentenced to life imprisonment for the stabbing death of a taxi driver.
In 1985, local police arrested two US soldiers in the act of raping a woman.
In 1989, a US soldier tossed a tear gas canister into a crowded dance club injuring 200 people.
In 1993, a US soldier was sent to prison for clubbing a man to death.
In a spate of crimes in 1995, a US soldier was arrested for the hammering death of a young woman, a mother and her two children were struck and killed by a drunken female soldier, and three US soldiers brutally raped a young schoolgirl.
In all over 4700 crimes have been committed by US soldiers stationed in Okinawa since the end of the war.
While many of these crimes were undoubtedly non-violent offenses like theft or vandalism, the partial list I have complied shows that all too many resulted in the rape or murder of innocent persons.
So as our thoughts are turned to the dead this Memorial Day, we might want to consider the following : Perhaps Okinawa needs a holiday to remember those victimized by America after the war.