National preparatory committees for 85th birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung formed
Pyongyang, March 25 (KCNA) -- Mexican and Angolan national preparatory committees for commemorating the 85th birth anniversary of the great leader President Kim Il Sung were formed with due ceremonies.
Alejandro Rosales Sanches, Secretary General of the Mexican Committee for Supporting the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, was elected chairman of the Mexican preparatory committee.
First Vice President of the National Assembly of Angola Lazaro Dias, Chairman of the Angola-Korea Friendship Association, was elected Chairman of the Angolan preparatory Committee.
Discussed at the inaugural ceremonies were plans for functions which will be held on the occasion of April 15.
Koreans in Japan support DPRK-proposed inter-Korean contact
Pyongyang, March 25 (KCNA) -- Kim Kap Jin, Chairman of the Federation of Korean Workers in commerce in Japan, and Ri Jong Hwal, Chairman of the Association of Koreans in Japan for Peaceful Reunification, issued statements on March 21 in support of the inter-Korean contact proposed by the Social Democratic Party and senior officials of public organisations in the DPRK in their letters addressed to south Korean counterparts.
The statements note that the present situation shows national independence and peace are a requisite for Korea's reunification now that the south Korean authorities undisguisedly resort to treacheries, war preparations and separatist activities.
The statements say that if contact and dialogue are held between representatives of political parties and organisations in the north and south and a joint conference of such representatives in the north, south and overseas is convened to fulfil the historic task of reunification, another landmark will no doubt be set up for radical progress in the settlement of the reunification issue.
The statements express belief that the south Korean political parties and organisations will positively respond to this proposal in the spirit of the historic July 4, 1972 north-south joint statement.
15th April Spring Friendship Art Festival to be held
Pyongyang, March 25 (KCNA) -- The 15th April Spring Friendship Art Festival will be held in Pyongyang on the occasion of April 15, the significant birth anniversary of the great leader President Kim Il Sung.
Vocal and instrumental music, dance and circus programs will be put on stage at the festival, participated by many foreign art troupes and circus teams composed of international and national contest winners and famous artistes and overseas Korean artistes as well as DPRK artistes.
The festival, which will open this year, the third anniversary of the death of President Kim Il Sung, will fully show the ardent reverence of all the people for him who will always live in the heart of humankind as the sun.
It will make a great contribution to developing friendship, solidarity and cultural exchange among men of culture from many countries of the world in the idea of independence, peace and friendship.
Secy. Kim Jong Il's on-the-spot guidance commemorated
Pyongyang, March 25 (KCNA) -- Secretary Kim Jong Il's on-the-spot guidance to the International Friendship Exhibition was commemorated.
The exhibition is situated at the foot of Mt. Myohyang, a scenic mountain of Korea.
Displayed in the exhibition are valuable gifts to the great leader President Kim Il Sung and the respected General Kim Jong Il from many party and state leaders, prominent public figures and progressive people of the world.
The respected General gave his first guidance to the International Friendship Exhibition on Augsut 25, 1979 and visited it several times later.
He visited the exhibition again on March 24, 1996, and clarified the principal matters and tasks to preserve and manage the gifts representing the boundless reverence and trust of progressive humankind for President Kim Il Sung to hand them over to posterity as the precious treasure of the country and the nation.
In the last one year a hall of the wax figure of the President and a new gift exhibition were built in line with the highest standard and compatriots and foreigners visited the exhibition.
A commemorative meeting was held on the spot on March 23.
Rrodong Sinmun condemns U.S., s. Korea for anti-DPRK campaign
Pyongyang, March 25 (KCNA) -- Rodong Sinmun today says the situation of the Korean peninsula has become all the more perilous due to the reckless anti-DPRK confrontation and war preparations by the U.S. hawks and the Kim Young Sam puppet clique of south Korea.
In a commentary the daily referred to south Korea's arms buildup and military deployment in frontline areas, war exercises of various kinds against the north, Kim Young Sam's remarks at the military, naval and airforce academies, "assemblymen's" visit to puppet army units in forward areas, etc.
All the facts are ill-boding military moves which can be seen only on the eve of war, the daily says. It is apparent that their military moves are designed to carry out such war plans as "new operation 5027" they worked out with outsiders.
Kim Young Sam, who is already a dead body, bitterly condemned by the south Korean people for the crimes he has committed over the past four years since he came to power, is seeking a way out in war preparations against the north.
Our people and servicemen are now on the alert against the reckless war preparations by the U.S. and south Korean warmongers.
If the enemy provoke a war against the north, we will annihilate the provokers.
Press review
Pyongyang, March 25 (KCNA) -- Rodong Sinmun today reports that Secretary Kim Jong Il sent thanks to the units which set an example in coal production and supply of materials concerned.
The paper informs the readers that foreign preparatory committees for commemorating the 85th birth anniversary of the great leader President Kim Il Sung and the Russian Organizing Committee of a Scientific and Theoretical Seminar on the Juche Idea were inaugurated.
The 15th April Spring Friendship Art Festival will be held in Pyongyang on the occasion of April 15, the significant birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung, says the press.
Rodong Simun runs an article stressing that the reunification of the country is sure under the leadership of Secretary Kim Jong Il, the great leader of the nation.
Minju Joson carries an article "leader of reunification" written by south Korean political analyst Jong Hun with reverence for Secretary Kim Jong Il.
Rodong Sinmun edits an article on the trust and love bestowed by President Kim Il Sung and Secretary Kim Jong Il upon Hyon Mu Gwang, who was Chariman of the Control Committee of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea of working class origin.
Given in the press is an account of a meeting held to commemorate the first anniversary of Secretary Kim Jong Il's on-the-spot guidance to the International Friendship Exhibition.
Seen in the press is news that Wonsan-Kumgangsan railway project is being pushed ahead.
Rodong Sinmun carries an account of talks held between the government delegations of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Zimbabwe in Harare.
Papers commentarily condemn the south Korean puppets' war moves against the DPRK.
Rodong Sinmun in a serial article on Kim Young Sam's criminal four-year office says he is a fascist tyrant overshadowing the military dictators.
It runs an article disclosing the U.S. move to control the Persian gulf area under the mask of "protector".
Minju Joson deals with the political crisis of Albania whose solution is difficult.
Many countries accuse Israel of starting Jewish housing project in Kuds, says the press.
Watanabe's trip to s. Korea under fire
Pyongyang, March 25 (KCNA) -- Nobutoshi Watanabe, chief of staff of the "ground self-defence force" of Japan, toured south Korea, according to a news report.
He reportedly discussed with the south Korean puppet military brass "strengthening of military cooperation" and "improvement of friendship", visited a "special warfare division", the "military school", Panmunjom and other places and learnt about the "situation of security".
His visit, coincided with south Korea's frantic war preparations, is viewed as a dangerous war trip apparently aimed at further aggravating the situation of the Korean peninsula and inventing a pretext for reinvasion. The Kim Young Sam group are now seeking a way out of the crisis in the provocation of a war and escalating confrontation with the north allegedly for "security".
The Japanese reactionaries, for the purpose of hunting a pretext of reinvasion, have raised outcries over the situation of the Korean peninsula and "contingency".
They, in defiance of strong public demand for the withdrawal of U.S. military bases, are persistently opposing the elimination or reduction of U.S. bases on Okinawa and other areas of Japan and linking their raison d'etre with the situation of the Korean peninsula in a far-fetched way.
They are also increasing the tension in the peninsula by encouraging the south Korean puppets to war preparations.
In recent years they, for "military exchange," dispatched warships and aggressive troops of the "Self-Defence Forces" to south Korea frequently to visit even frontline areas near the military demarcation line, while strengthening tieups with the south Korean puppet military.
The facts show how desperately Japan is trying to stage a comeback to Korea instead of apologizing for its indelible crimes against the Korean people.
Watanabe's south Korean trip, a sign of the Japanese reactionaries' hostile policy towards the DPRK, can never be tolerated.
The Japanese reactionaries must stop at once such criminal acts as encouraging the puppets to start a war in Korea, finding a pretext of reinvasion and seeking overseas aggression.
Korea guided by great leader of nation is sure to be reunified
Pyongyang, March 25 (KCNA) -- The Korean nation, led by Secretary Kim Jong Il, will check the anti-reunification moves of the separatist forces at home and abroad to reunify the country and accomplish the cause of national independence without fail.
Rodong Sinmun stresses this in a by-lined article today.
The article says the great leader President Kim Il Sung successfully solved the question of succession to the cause of national independence to provide a rockfirm basis for the Korean people to accomplish the cause of reunification, having the centre of great national unity, the lodestar of the reunification, generation after generation.
The position and role of President Kim Il Sung as the lodestar of reunification and the mental pillar for the fellow countrymen are fully being inherited by the respected General Kim Jong Il, it notes, and goes on:
General Kim Jong Il is the great outstanding leader of all the Korean people. He, with President Kim Il Sung, has led the country and the nation through his energetic activities of decades. For his experienced and tested leadership traits, immortal feats and noble virtues, he is absolutely respected and trusted by the entire fellow countrymen.
The General set the reunification of the country as a struggle to achieve the national sovereignty on a nationwide scale and finally complete the national liberation and as an important task for national independence. He put forward correct strategic and tactical policies to this end and has led the national reunification movement to victory with his distinguished wisdom and strategy.
He has fully inherited the absolute authority of President Kim Il Sung. Nobody and no force can impair the greatness of his ideology, leadership and virtues, and his absolute authority.
Our fellow countrymen, looking up to the General as the living image of the President, as the savior of their destinies and mental pillar, firmly believe that the country is sure to be reunified under his leadership. Their faith in reunification is unshakable.
As there is the spiritual unity of the leader and the fellow countrymen based on trust and will, our nation's cause of reunification is sure to be realized.
Coal resources in Korea
Pyongyang, March 25 (KCNA) -- Korea is abundant in coal resources.
The country has large deposits of sapropelic, anthracite, bituminous, brown and peat coal formed from the proterozoic era to the cenozoic era.
Anju coal field with a deposit of more than 10 billion tons covers 130 square kilometres in land and 700 square kilometres under sea.
Phyongnam northern coal field is the largest anthracite coal producer covering a vast area of 800 square kilometres, including Kaechon, Tokchon and Sunchon cities, Maengsan and Pukchang counties, south Phyongan province and Kujang county, north Phyongan province.
Billions of tons of coal are deposited in Phyongnam southern coal field, Hambuk northern coal field and Hambuk southern coal field.
Coal is the main of fuel resources in the country.
Priority is given to the coal industry ahead of other sectors of the national economy.
Rrelief materials to DPRK
Pyongyang, March 25 (KCNA) -- International organizations including the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), different countries and organizations recently sent over 6,500 tons of barley seeds and some 800 tons of fertilizer to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which is in the seedtime of wheat and barley as the first croppers of double-cropping.
The UNDP also sent 600 thousand dollars worth of excavators and bulldozers for the rehabilitation of arable lands in Unpha, north Hwanghae province.
This encourages the Korean people in the work to repair flood damage at an early date and bring about a fresh upsurge in agricultural production.
Thai parliamentary delegation arrives
Pyongyang, March 25 (KCNA) -- A delegation of the Thai parliament led by Sophon Phetsawang, First Deputy-Speaker of the House of Representatives, arrived here today.
The delegation was greeted at the airport by Paek In Jun, Vice-chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly, and other officials concerned.
Delegation of World Trade Centres Association here
Pyongyang, March 25 (KCNA) -- A delegation of the World Trade Centres Association led by its President Guy F. Tozzoli arrived here today.
The delegation was greeted at the airport by Kim Jong U, Chairman of the Korean Committee for the Promotion of Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries.