Three Generals of Mt. Paektu Registered as Honorary Citizens of Ecuador

    Pyongyang, January 8 (KCNA) -- The Special Council Meeting of the Catamayo City Government of Loja Province of Ecuador decided to register President Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il and anti-Japanese war hero Kim Jong Suk as its honorary citizens on the occasion of the February holiday. The meeting was held on Dec. 26 last year with an attendance of the mayor, directors of the city government and officials of the city office.
    A decision to register the three generals of Mt. Paektu as honorary citizens was adopted with unanimous approval at the meeting.
    Ector Venigno Figueroa, mayor of the city, said that it is a great honor and privilege for the government and people of the city to register the three generals of Mt. Paektu as its honorary citizens, adding that he would make positive efforts to boost the friendship and solidarity with the Korean people.

Preparatory Committee Formed in Laos

    Pyongyang, January 8 (KCNA) -- The Lao National Youth Preparatory Committee for Commemorating the Day of the Sun and February 16 was inaugurated with due ceremony at the Laos-Korea Youth Friendship Center on Jan. 4. Khamphan Sittidampha, secretary of the Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Youth Union, was elected chairman of the preparatory committee at the inaugural ceremony.
    The chairman stressed the need to publish famous works of the peerlessly great men and organize multifarious political and cultural functions during the commemoration period and thus, deeply grasp the immortal feats they performed for the Korean revolution and the cause of global independence.

Korean People's Just Cause Supported

    Pyongyang, January 8 (KCNA) -- Support to and solidarity with the just cause of the Korean people was voiced at the first meeting of the presidential council of the World Federation of Trade Unions held in Brussels, Belgium, on December 20 and 21 last year. A resolution for solidarity with the DPRK was adopted at the meeting.
    Noting that the Bush administration was getting more malicious in its hostile policy towards the DPRK in a bid to block the process of the reunification of Korea and establish its military domination over Northeast Asia, the resolution said the U.S. had deployed its huge forces and over 1,000 nuclear weapons in south Korea and was shipping an exorbitant amount of military hardware into south Korea and its surroundings under the pretext of "strategic flexibility" and "relocation" of its forces and staging aggressive war drills in an unbroken chain.
    Bitterly denouncing the anachronistic policy of the U.S. against the DPRK, the resolution demanded the U.S. withdraw all of its forces from south Korea.
    The resolution expressed solidarity with the Korean people in their struggle to defend the sovereignty of the country and the dignity of the nation, achieve the country's reunification and speed up the building of a great prosperous powerful nation under the Songun policy of leader Kim Jong Il.

Rodong Sinmun Calls for Strengthening International Solidarity

    Pyongyang, January 8 (KCNA) -- The Workers' Party and people of Korea will continue to strengthen the international solidarity with the world progressives this year, too. Rodong Sinmun today says this in a by-lined article.
    It goes on:
    Boosting the international solidarity is an important demand for the Party and people to successfully carry out their national and international duties.
    It is aimed at successfully accomplishing the popular masses' cause of independence, the socialist cause, by the united efforts. To this end the international solidarity should be solid unity and disinterested support. Therefrom, it is important to provide the international solidarity on the basis of the socialist idea. Only doing so makes it possible for the revolutionary parties to cement their ideological and political unity and solidarity and closely cooperate and support with each other.
    The international solidarity should be based on independence.
    A revolutionary party should respect independence of other parties while maintaining its independence. It is the principle and rule that should be strictly observed in the relations between the revolutionary parties.
    There can never be a superior or inferior party and an instructing party or a party being instructed among the revolutionary parties, and the comradely relationship based on independence and equality should be always maintained among them. Solidarity based on independence only can remain a solid international solidarity.
    The imperialists are now getting desperate, through international collaboration, to check the popular masses' cause of independence. Under this situation, it is important for the non-aligned and developing countries to positively support the peoples struggling for national independence.
    To support the people's struggle for independence and sovereignty is a noble international duty of the peoples of the non-aligned and developing countries out in the struggle to accomplish the cause of independence against imperialism.

Putting Spurs to Reunification Movement Called for

    Pyongyang, January 8 (KCNA) -- The Korean nation should put greater spurs to the patriotic movement for reunification and open up a heyday of the cause of reunification this year, true to the calls of the joint editorial, says Rodong Sinmun Monday in a signed article. Attaching importance to the nation, defending peace and achieving unity--these are three tasks the Korean nation should fulfill for national reunification this year, the article says, and goes on:
    Attaching importance to the nation is the basic stand and the maxim the Korean nation should maintain in accomplishing the cause of national reunification at the present time.
    The U.S. imperialists are working overtime to provoke a new war, seeking the division of the Korean nation and the inter-Korean confrontation to serve their hegemonic strategy and meet their interests for aggression. It is a treachery negating peace and reunification to attach importance to the outsiders who are pressing for division and war.
    The stand of attaching importance to the nation is inseparably linked to the idea of "By our nation itself." The stance and stand of attaching importance to the nation cannot be expected from one bereft of this idea.
    Defending peace is a vital task related to the destiny of the nation and a crucial task on which hinges the victory of the movement for independent reunification.
    The struggle to defend peace against war is a just and patriotic struggle to defend the foundation of the life of the Korean nation and, at the same time, a positive struggle for reunification to drive back the desperate challenges of the warlike forces opposed to reunification at home and abroad, promote national reconciliation and unity and achieve a shining victory of the cause of national reunification. To defend peace against war is a fighting task common to the nation to which it should give priority this year.
    The unity of the entire nation is a basic factor guaranteeing victory in this year's struggle.
    National unity is an important task which the Korean nation should consistently maintain in the whole process of the cause of national reunification as it is a decisive guarantee for independent reunification and constitutes its essence.
    To achieve the unity of the whole nation is the basic way of building the driving force of national reunification and enlarging and strengthening it.
    Putting fresh muscles into the great alliance against the conservatives in south Korea tallies with the purpose of the movement for a great unity of the nation to closely rally broad patriotic forces for reunification as one and meets the present requirement to carry out a progressive reform in south Korea.

Title of Honorary Citizen to Three Generals of Mt. Paektu

    Pyongyang, January 8 (KCNA) -- A ceremony was held at the city hall of Troncal, Canar Province, Ecuador, on December 26 to award the title of honorary citizen of Troncal City to President Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il and anti-Japanese war hero Kim Jong Suk on the occasion of the February holiday. The decision of the city council to award the title to the three generals of Mt. Paektu was read out at the ceremony.
    The mayor of the city in his speech said that it was a great event to be recorded in the history of Troncal City to award the title of honorary citizen to the three generals of Mt. Paektu and that the people of the city would work energetically to tighten the ties of friendship and solidarity with the Korean people, cherishing the pride of having the three generals as honorary citizens.

Dynamic General Offensive for Building Socialist Economic Power Called for

    Pyongyang, January 8 (KCNA) -- Rodong Sinmun Monday editorially calls on all officials, party members and other working people to turn out as one in the drive for the prosperity of the country in hearty response to the militant appeal of the Workers' Party of Korea so that the general march of the Songun revolution may be accelerated throughout it. The editorial goes on:
    If efforts are concentrated on the economic construction to make a fresh advance now that all conditions have been created for leaping higher and faster, our country will shed its rays all over the world as a great prosperous powerful socialist nation with tremendous state economic potential.
    It was the intention of President Kim Il Sung and a grandiose plan during his lifetime to build an economic power. We should make this auspicious year a year that will witness the successful materialization of the plan of the President for building a rich and powerful country and a prosperous year for the country.
    It is the revolutionary spirit of the Korean people to stage a strong offensive campaign to achieve greater victory.
    The slogan of struggle and advance "Usher in a Great Heyday of Songun Korea Full of Confidence in Victory!" calls on the Korean people to perform fresh feats.
    We should make a great leap in the building of a socialist economic power this year through a strong offensive campaign from the outset of the year in hearty response to the militant appeal of the party.
    All party members and other working people should have firm confidence that their cause of building a great prosperous powerful nation is bound to be crowned with victory under the leadership of Kim Jong Il, a peerless patriot and genius of creation and construction.
    They should firmly grasp the intention of the WPK which regarded it as a main task of the on-going general march to step up technological updating to put our economy on a modern footing and display its potentials to the full, while directing primary efforts to rapidly improving the standard of the people's living, and realize it.
    The cause of building a great prosperous powerful nation requires all the servicepersons and people to advance it by displaying patriotism, the editorial notes, calling all of them to wage a dynamic drive for building a socialist economic power in single-minded unity under the great banner of Songun.

New Kind of Concrete Hardening Accelerator Developed

    Pyongyang, January 8 (KCNA) -- A new kind of water-reducing concrete hardening accelerator has been developed in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, enjoying a great popularity among experts and constructors. According to researcher Jo Kyong Min, it can be applicable to all the concrete construction objects such as architectural structures and prefabricated elements. Its application makes it possible to speed up the construction tempo considerably, while enhancing the quality of construction objects.
    The concrete mortar treated with the accelerator is stronger in fluidity, resistance to cold and corrosion and density than other ones. And the accelerator raises concrete intensity by 20-25 percent so as to save a large amount of cement.
    The accelerator has been widely used in the construction of the Samjiyon area, power stations in different parts of the country and dwelling houses in Thongil Street.

Joint New Year Editorial Widely Studied

    Pyongyang, January 8 (KCNA) -- All the people of the DPRK are studying hard the joint New Year editorial of Rodong Sinmun, Joson Inmingun and Chongnyon Jonwi. Officials of the North Phyongan Provincial Bureau of Tideland Reclamation and Management, the Phyongsan Marble Mine, Township Cooperative Farm in Samchon County and other units have made visual aids on the essence and content of the editorial and brought them home to the working people who are registering great successes from the beginning of the year.
    All the working people are paying attention to finding the ways and means for the implementation of the tasks assigned to them by the editorial.
    They are combining the study with practice at the working sites during breaks.
    Such habit of study well reflects the revolutionary zeal and fighting spirit of the working people who are resolved to thoroughly implement the tasks set forth by the editorial.
    They have accepted the joint editorial as a grand plan of the Workers' Party of Korea for the building of a great, prosperous and powerful nation and the militant banner to be firmly upheld in the efforts for ushering in a great heyday of Songun Korea this year.

Self-Reliance, Motive Power for Victory of Korean Revolution

    Pyongyang, January 8 (KCNA) -- The joint New Year editorial calls upon the entire people to run the economy by their own efforts, their own technology and their own resources with a determination that they must build a socialist paradise by themselves, noting that it is high time to dash forward toward the new eminence of the prosperity and development under the uplifted slogan of self-reliance. Self-reliance is the priceless tradition of the Korean revolution and driving force for victory.
    The Korean people have keenly experienced through protracted struggle that self-reliance is the only way of life and of continuous victory and prosperity.
    The indomitable spirit of the anti-Japanese guerrillas who made Yongil bombs with empty hand to defeat the brigandish Japanese imperialists and the heroic fighting spirit of the Korean people who built a socialist powerful nation, independent in politics, self-supporting in economy and self-reliant in national defence, by their own efforts on the debris of the Korean war have been fully carried forward century after century.
    In the last decade of the 20th century, the economic construction of the DPRK had to undergo trying difficulties owing to the collapse of east European socialist countries and persistent sanctions forced upon by the imperialists. But the Korean people vigorously rose up without any vacillation with a firm resolution and will to build a great, prosperous and powerful socialist nation on their land by their own efforts, technology and natural resources.
    Their efforts resulted in launching an artificial satellite, a complex of updated science and technology, having a powerful deterrent for the national sovereignty and building the Kaechon-Thaesong Lake Water-way and other monumental edifices. The upsurge unprecedented in all sectors is the fine fruition of the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance.
    The proud victories and changes achieved in the construction of a great, prosperous and powerful nation under the Songun revolutionary leadership of the Party harden the Korean people's confidence that self-reliance is best.
    Unswerving are the determination and will of the Korean people to accomplish the revolution with their own efforts no matter how the world may change and no matter what grave trials they may face.
    The Korean people will bring about the dawn of greater victory in the vigorous general march of Songun revolution with self-reliance, the theory of the revolution and a powerful wherewithal guaranteeing the construction of a socialist economic power, as a weapon.

More Provincial Rallies Held

    Pyongyang, January 8 (KCNA) -- Mass rallies were held in Jagang, South Hwanghae, Ryanggang and Kangwon provinces on Jan. 7 to bring a fresh surge in the building of a great prosperous powerful nation, beating louder the drum of the Songun revolution in response to the joint New Year editorial. The reporters and speakers at the rallies said the joint New Year editorial serves as a highly important guideline to glorify the immortal exploits of President Kim Il Sung in pioneering the cause of building a socialist power of Juche and laying an eternal foundation for its accomplishment and demonstrate the might of the country where great multitudes of soldiers and people are marching vigorously toward a bright future, united around Kim Jong Il with a single mind.
    They called upon all the officials, members of the Workers' Party of Korea and other working people to become ardent fighters who faithfully uphold the idea and leadership of the headquarters of the revolution in the steadfast spirit of devotedly defending the leader and who trust and follow only their leader and share the idea, purpose and destiny with him.
    Noting that the main task of the present general march is to put primary efforts into improving the standard of the people's living in a short time, they urged all the people to effect dramatic innovations in economic construction and improvement of the standard of the people's living, upholding the militant tasks put forward in the joint editorial.
    They said all the party members and other working people should turn the country into a socialist fairyland by building up the towns and rural villages to suit the Songun era and successfully conducting land administration, deeply cherishing the conviction of certain victory and revolutionary optimism as befits the people living and making revolution in the worthy era of building a great prosperous powerful nation.
    All the officials and working people, they stressed, should safeguard the revolutionary gains won at the cost of blood as the apple of the eye, consolidate as firm as a rock the great army-people unity without an equal in the world and unfold the prosperous days of Songun Korea with the might of single-minded unity.
    The rallies were attended by leading officials of local party and power bodies, economic institutions and working people's organizations, working people of different strata and youth and students.

For Spanish-speaking people

Kim Jong Il ve funcion en el Gran Teatro de Pyongyang Este

    Pyongyang, 8 de enero (ATCC) -- El Dirigente Kim Jong Il, Secretario General del Partido del Trabajo de Corea (PTC), Presidente del Comite de Defensa Nacional de la Republica Popular Democratica de Corea y Comandante Supremo del Ejercito Popular de Corea, recorrio el nuevamente remodelado Gran Teatro de Pyongyang Este y presencio alli la funcion por el Ano Nuevo ofrecida por el Conjunto Artistico Mansudae. @Gracias a la magnanima medida del PTC, que siempre presta profunda atencion a la vida cultural del pueblo, este teatro fue reconstruido a tono del nuevo siglo.
    El Dirigente se entero en detalles del estado de reconstruccion y los equipos recorriendo el interior del teatro.
    Se mostro muy satisfecho diciendo que el teatro fue reestructurado cualitativamente y esta dispuesto de los equipos dignos de este magnifico palacio del arte.
    Evaluo altamente a los constructores quienes dedicando toda su inteligencia y pasion llevaron a cabo exitosamente esta obra.
    Acto seguido, presencio alli la funcion por el Ano Nuevo preparada por el Conjunto Artistico Mansudae.
    Le acompanaron Kim Yong Nam, Kim Il Chol, Choe Thae Bok, Yang Hyong Sop, Choe Yong Rim, Kim Kuk Thae, Kim Jung Rin, Kim Ki Nam, los funcionarios directivos del CC del PTC, los cuadros de administracion y economia y los funcionarios de los dominios de literatura y arte, prensa e informacion.
    En esta representacion los ejecutantes cantaron emotivamente de la indoblegable voluntad y ferrea conviccion del partido y el pueblo levantados en la magna obra para construir en el territorio patrio una gran potencia socialista del Juche sosteniendo en alto la bandera roja de la revolucion.

Ecuador confiere titulo honorifico a tres Generales del monte Paektu

    Pyongyang, 8 de enero (ATCC) -- En ocasion de la fiesta de febrero (16 de febrero, cumpleanos del Dirigente Kim Jong Il), la ciudad de Troncal de la provincia ecuatoriana de Canar concedio el 26 de diciembre del ano pasado el titulo de ciudadano honorario al Presidente Kim Il Sung, el Dirigente Kim Jong Il y la heroina de lucha antijaponesa Kim Jong Suk. En la ceremonia de otorgamiento, que tuvo lugar en la municipalidad de esa urbe, se dio lectura a la resolucion del consejo urbano sobre el particular.
    En su discurso, el alcalde de Troncal dijo que el otorgamiento de tal titulo a los 3 Generales del monte Paektu es un gran evento a ser registrado en la historia de la ciudad y subrayo que muy orgulloso de haberlos hecho ciudadanos honorarios, se esforzaran activamente por fortalecer el lazo de amistad y solidaridad con el pueblo coreano.

Laos: comite preparatorio para efemerides coreanas

    Pyongyang, 8 de enero (ATCC) -- Quedo constituido el dia 4 en el Centro de Amistad de la Juventud Laos-Corea el comite preparatorio nacional de jovenes de Laos para el Dia del Sol (15 de abril, cumpleanos del Presidente Kim Il Sung) y el 16 de febrero (cumpleanos del Dirigente Kim Jong Il). Como presidente del comite naciente fue electo el secretario del Comite Central de la Union de la Juventud Popular Revolucionaria Lao.
    El destaco la necesidad de publicar en el periodo de celebracion las obras maestras del Presidente y del Dirigente y organizar diversas actividades politico-culturales para estudiar profundamente las imborrables proezas de estos grandes hombres sin par, acumuladas en aras de la revolucion coreana y la causa de independencia del mundo.