German Ambassador Hosts Reception

   Pyongyang, February 28 (KCNA) -- German Ambassador to the DPRK Thomas Schafer Wednesday hosted a reception at his embassy on the occasion of the 7th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the DPRK and Germany.
    Present there on invitation were Kung Sok Ung, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs, Ri Myong San, vice-minister of Foreign Trade, Hong Son Ok, vice-chairwoman of the Korean Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries who is chairwoman of the DPRK-Germany Friendship Association, officials concerned and diplomatic envoys of various countries here.
    On hand were staff members of the German embassy here.
    Speeches were made there.


Opening Anniversary of DPRK-German Diplomatic Ties Marked

   Pyongyang, February 28 (KCNA) -- A photo exhibition was opened at the Chollima House of Culture here on Thursday to mark the anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the DPRK and the Federal Republic of Germany.
    It was cosponsored by the Korean Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, the DPRK-Germany Friendship Association and the German embassy here.
    Present there were Hong Son Ok, vice-chairwoman of the Korean Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries who is chairwoman of the friendship association, officials concerned, working people in the city of Pyongyang and Ambassador Thomas Schafer and staff members of the German embassy.
    Present on invitation were diplomatic envoys and staff members of embassies of different countries and members of missions of international organizations here.
    Speeches were made there.
    The participants looked round the photos showing buildings of Germany registered as the world's cultural heritage.


Paektusan Cup Sports Contest Closes

   Pyongyang, February 28 (KCNA) -- The Paektusan Cup Sports Contest, which opened on Feb. 12 on the occasion of the birthday of General Secretary Kim Jong Il, closed with due ceremony today.
    Men and women players of the April 25 Sports Group took the first place in basketball and volleyball events and men of the Pyongyang City Sports Group and women of the Amnokgang Sports Group the first place in table-tennis.
    Its closing ceremony was held at the Basketball Gymnasium in Chongchun Street.
    Among those present at the ceremony was Kim Jung Rin, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea.


New Technique Introduced in Agaric Cultivation

   Pyongyang, February 28 (KCNA) -- A new technique of agaric cultivation by active additive is being widely applied to production in the DPRK.
     Lots of industrial establishments and other units have arranged farming rooms.
     Co-op farms are raising the mushroom on rice straw in cold-bed by nurturing agaric hypha by the method of fermentation.
     Families in towns and countryside are growing agaric by dint of such technique.
     Most effective and profitable is the cultivation in greenhouse and cold-bed.
     Being strong in cold resistance, agaric can be produced from March to May and from September to November in the northern uplands, from October to the beginning of next May in the areas north of the middle of the country and from November to early next April in the areas south of the middle.


U.S. Responsible for Nuclear Issue on Korean Peninsula

   Pyongyang, February 28 (KCNA) -- The United States has resorted to nuclear blackmail against the Korean nation for half a century since it brought nuclear weapons into the Korean Peninsula.
     Having declared to the world "the start of the nuclearization" of its army occupying south Korea on July 15, Juche 46 (1957), the U.S. formally announced the shipment of nuclear weapons on January 29, 1958, introducing such nuclear arms as atomic gun and nuclear missile "Honest John" into south Korea.
     The Korean nation has since lived in a constant danger of a nuclear war on the part of the U.S. for full half a century.
     The U.S. massively deployed such atomic weapons and guided missiles as "Matador" and "Hawk" missiles and nuclear mines in south Korea in the 1960s and new-type nuclear weapons in the 1970s.
     Ronald Dellums, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, confessed in his congressional testimony in June 1975 that the U.S. had shipped more than 1,000 nuclear weapons into south Korea and deployed there 54 airplanes capable of carrying nuclear bombs.
     The U.S. acts for beefing up nuclear forces reached the highest pitch in the 1980s.
     According to minutes of the south Korean "National Assembly" session in 1985, the nuclear weapons of the U.S. deployed in south Korea had run into no less than 1,720, which included nuclear bombs, nuclear artillery shells, missile nuclear warheads, neutron bombs and shells, nuclear mines and nuke knapsacks.
     This is said to be four times the NATO region in nuclear deployment density in 1990 and more than 1,000 times the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima in explosive power.
     The hectic drive of the U.S. culminated in the conversion of south Korea into a nuclear base topping the global list of nuclear density with one or more nuclear weapons deployed per 100 square kilometers.
     The U.S. has posed a constant threat of nuclear attack to the DPRK, having turned south Korea into the biggest nuclear advance base in the Far East and strategic nuclear arsenal targeted against it.
     The U.S. was never weary of supplementing and rounding off its nuclear war scenarios ranging from the top-secret operational plan "8-53" in the 1950s to the "OPLAN 5027-98" and the "emergency plan" and escalated nuclear war games against the north on their basis.
     Entering the new century, the U.S. formulated a preemptive nuclear strike at the DPRK in its policy and scrapped the DPRK-U.S. Agreed Framework, screwing up the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula to a new pitch.
     History strips the United States naked as the very one responsible for the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.


Japan Urged to Give up Its Brazen-faced Attempt to Grab Tok Islet

   Pyongyang, February 28 (KCNA) -- Japan's distribution of a detailed map of Tok islet is absolutely intolerable as it is a grave infringement upon the dignity and sovereignty of the Korean nation, says Rodong Sinmun today in a signed article.
    It goes on:
    The Japanese reactionaries' distribution of the detailed map is intended to make Japan's "dominion over the Tok islet" an established fact in a bid to convince the public at home and abroad of it and legalize its domination over it.
    Japan's above-said rash act is an impudent distortion of its history and an undisguised move to stage a comeback to Korea.
    The historical facts and old documents prove that the islet is part of the inalienable territory of Korea which has belonged to its nation since old times.
    This being a hard reality, Japan has worked hard to grab the islet, persistently asserting its dominion over it.
    The Japanese reactionaries are eyeing the resources of the islet and seeking to use it as a military springboard from which to stage a comeback to Korea. It is the ulterior motive of Japan to intensify its moves for military invasion of Korea by grabbing the islet. Japan's wild ambition for aggression remains unchanged.
    Japan's move to seize the islet is a prelude to staging a comeback to Korea.
    Japan is, however, sadly mistaken. It is a daydream for Japan to grab the islet and realize its ambition for staging a comeback to Korea.
    The islet will always remain part of the inalienable territory of Korea.


Stop to Anti-DPRK War Exercises Urged in S. Korea

   Pyongyang, February 28 (KCNA) -- The People for Achieving Peace and Reunification, the Northern Kyonggi Provincial Solidarity for Progress and the People's Measure Committee against the Expansion of Mugon-ri Training Range in south Korea reportedly called a joint press conference outside the gate of the U.S. firing range in Phochon, Kyonggi Province on Feb. 24 to protest against the military exercises of the Striker unit of the U.S. forces.
    A press release was read out at the conference. Noting that the Striker unit, which came to south Korea for taking part in Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military exercises to be held in early March, is going to perform a shooting drill in the Phochon firing range on the same day, the press release said: This is evidently an act of threatening the north directly and escalating the war crisis on the Korean Peninsula.
    It bitterly charged that the U.S. is going to conduct the large-scale exercises for preemptive attack on the north though it has expressed the will to improve the relations with the north and conclude a peace agreement on the Korean Peninsula.
    If the U.S. truly wants to contribute to peace on the peninsula, it should immediately cancel the plan for Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military exercises and withdraw the Striker unit and other forces, the release urged.
    At the end of the press conference, the organizations staged a demonstration.


Violence Committed by GIs in S. Korea

   Pyongyang, February 28 (KCNA) -- The GIs in south Korea recently committed violence one after another, arousing the public criticism, according to a news report.
    On Feb. 14, U.S. soldiers stationed in the U.S. air-force base in Osan, Kyonggi Province, made an assault upon two south Korean workers who serve as drivers at the base.
    On Feb. 20, a GI was seized when making a sexual assault upon a 19-year old south Korean woman.
    As regards the continuous crimes committed by GIs, members of civic and public organizations and people in south Korea have strongly demanded severe punishment of the GI criminals.


Kim Jong Il's Songun Politics Praised

   Pyongyang, February 28 (KCNA) -- Meetings took place in India, Pakistan, Bulgaria, Poland and Egypt from Feb. 8 to 12 on the occasion of the birthday of General Secretary Kim Jong Il.
    Speeches were made there.
    The director of the Indian Institute for Foreign Policy Studies said that Kim Jong Il established the original Songun political mode on the basis of his penetration into the importance of the army and arms and the situation of the anti-imperialist struggle.
    The reality of the DPRK, which brought about the dawn of a great prosperous powerful nation, decisively frustrating the arbitrary and high-handed practices of the U.S. styling itself the world's "only superpower," clearly proves that the Songun politics serves as an all-powerful treasured sword firmly guaranteeing the advance and victory of the cause of independence under any conditions and circumstances, he said.
    The chairman of the Lahore Lawyers Association of Pakistan highly praised Kim Jong Il as the greatest man without an equal in the world and a great politician who turned the whole country into an iron wall with his Songun politics and consolidated the single-minded unity of the whole society with his warm love for the people.
    The chairman of the Poland-Korea Friendship Club in Otwock, Poland stressed that the outstanding political caliber and immortal exploits of Kim Jong Il who has converted the DPRK into an invincible country and put the dignity and honor of the Korean nation on the highest stage with his Songun politics will shine long with history.
    Messages of greetings to Kim Jong Il were adopted at the meetings held in Pakistan, Bulgaria and Egypt.
    Seminars and film shows held in France, Thailand and Bangladesh on Feb. 12 and 13 dealt with the great vitality of the Songun politics of Kim Jong Il.


Friendly Gatherings Held at DPRK Missions

   Pyongyang, February 28 (KCNA) -- Friendly gatherings took place at the DPRK missions in Pakistan, Malaysia, Switzerland, Sweden and Democratic Congo from Feb. 13 to 15 on the occasion of the birthday of General Secretary Kim Jong Il.
    On display in the venues of those functions were famous works of President Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il and photos showing their immortal exploits.
    Present there were figures from all walks of life, diplomatic envoys of different countries and staff members of the DPRK embassies in the above-said countries.
    Speeches were made there.
    The Minister of Inter-Provincial Coordination of Pakistan said that the government and people of Pakistan rejoice as over their own over the successes achieved by the Korean people in building a great prosperous powerful nation and wish them greater victory in the future.
    The vice-minister of Higher Education of Malaysia wholeheartedly wished Kim Jong Il good health and success in his noble work, hoping that the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries would grow stronger.
    The chairman of the Sweden-Korea Friendship Association stressed that the Songun politics pursued by Kim Jong Il is the only weapon for frustrating the imperialists' moves for world domination.
    The participants in those functions looked round books and photos on display before watching Korean films "The Rivers and Mountains of the Country Being Face-lifted under the Leadership of the Great General" and "75th Anniversary of Heroic Korean People's Army."


For Spanish-speaking people



Clausurada competencia deportiva por "Copa Paektusan"

   Pyongyang, 28 de febrero (ATCC) -- Quedo clausurada el dia 28 en el Centro de Baloncesto en el reparto Chongchun la competencia deportiva por la "Copa Paektusan" inaugurada el pasado dia 12 con motivo del cumpleanos (16 de febrero) del Dirigente Kim Jong Il.
     Los jugadores de ambos sexos del Equipo Deportivo 25 de Abril ocuparon primeros lugares en los partidos de baloncesto y voleibol y los jugadores del Equipo Deportivo de la Ciudad de Pyongyang y las jugadoras del Equipo Deportivo Amrokgang se clasificaron primeros en los encuentros de tenis de mesa, respectivamente.
     En la ocasion estuvieron presentes el secretario del Comite Central del Partido del Trabajo de Corea, Kim Jung Rin, y otros funcionarios.


Rodong Sinmun denuncia intencion de Japon de usurpar isla Tok

   Pyongyang, 28 de febrero (ATCC) -- Japon elaboro el mapa de precision de la isla Tok, lo cual nunca puede ser perdonado jamas siendo grave atentado a la soberania y dignidad de la nacion coreana.
    Asi senala el diario Rodong Sinmun en un articulo individual del dia 28 y continua:
    Tal intento de los reaccionarios japoneses reside en hacer en un hecho consumado que la isla Tok pertenece al "territorio de Japon" y en convencerlo al interior y exterior legalizando su dominio sobre esta isla.
    Tambien deviene una cinica tergiversacion de la historia y una abierta maniobra de nueva agresion a Corea.
    Los hechos historicos y otros datos del pasado prueban que la isla Tok fue el territorio propio de Corea donde los coreanos habian vivido desde hace mucho tiempo.
    Sin embargo, Japon sigue insistiendo en el derecho a la "posesion" de la isla Tok y maniobra perversamente para usurpar esta que es la sagrada tierra de nuestro pais.
    Los reaccionarios japoneses tienen gran interes en los recursos naturales de la citada isla e intentan emplearla como trampolin militar para la nueva agresion a Corea. El pais isleno pretende apoderarse de la isla Tok y fortalecer las maniobras de agresion militar sobre Corea. La ambicion agresiva de los militaristas japoneses no ha cambiado jamas.
    Las maniobras de Japon para usurparla significan el preludio de nueva agresion a Corea. Pero, Japon se equivoca. Tal intencion no pasa de ser una ilusion vana.
    La isla Tok quedo, queda y quedara para siempre como sagrado territorio de Corea.


Personalidades de varios paises elogian la politica de Songun

   Pyongyang, 28 de febrero (ATCC) -- Con motivo del dia de natalicio (16 de febrero) del Dirigente Kim Jong Il, tuvieron lugar del dia 8 al 12 mitines conmemorativos en la India, Pakistan, Bulgaria, Polonia y Egipto.
    El presidente del Instituto Indio para la Politica Exterior dijo que Su Excelencia Kim Jong Il se percato de la importancia del ejercito y el fusil y del estado de la lucha antiimperialista y establecio el original modo de politica de Songun (priorizacion militar).
    Prosiguio que Corea trajo la aurora de la gran potencia prospera rechazando rotundamente la coaccion y arbitrariedades de Estados Unidos que se autodenomina de "unica superpotencia" del mundo.
     Subrayo que esta realidad comprueba claramente que la politica de Songun es el medio omnipotente que garantiza el avance y victoria de la causa de independencia aun en cualesquier condiciones y circunstancias.
    El presidente de la Asociacion de Abogados de Lahore de Pakistan destaco que Su Excelencia el Dirigente Kim Jong Il es gran hombre inigualable y gran politico que fortifico todo el pais como muralla de acero practicando la politica de Songun y consolido la unidad monolitica de toda la sociedad con el calido amor por el pueblo.
    El presidente del Club de Amistad Polonia-Corea en Otwock ratifico que brillaran eternamente en la historia la extraordinaria capacidad politica y las hazanas imborrables de Su Excelencia Kim Jong Il quien en virtud de la politica de Songun, convirtio a Corea en una potencia invencible y puso en la etapa cimera la dignidad y el honor de la nacion coreana.
    En los actos efectuados en Pakistan, Bulgaria y Egipto fueron aprobados mensajes de felicitacion al Dirigente Kim Jong Il.
    En los simposios y encuentros de cine realizados los dias 12 y 13 en Francia, Tailandia y Bangladesh tambien se refirieron a la gran vitalidad de la politica de Songun.