Ghanaian preparatory committee for 85th birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung formed

Pyongyang, March 27 (KCNA) -- An inaugural meeting of the Ghanaian preparatory committee for commemorating the 85th birth anniversary of the great leader President Kim Il Sung (April 15, 1912) was held in Accra on march 18. The meeting elected the Minister of Profession and Social Welfare of Ghana Chairman of the preparatory committee. A schedule of functions was discussed at the meeting.

Thai guests visit Statue of President Kim Il Sung

Pyongyang, March 27 (KCNA) -- The delegation of the Thai parliament led by Sophon Phetsawang, First Deputy-Speaker of The House of Representatives, visited the Statue of the great leader President Kim Il Sung on Mansu Hill on March 26. It laid a floral basket and made a bow before the statue.

Gift to Secy. Kim Jong Il from President of World Trade Centres Association

Pyongyang, March 27 (KCNA) -- Secretary Kim Jong Il received a gift from Guy F. Tozzoli, President of the World Trade Centres Association on a visit to Korea. It was handed to an official concerned by the President.

26th anniversary of Independence of Bangladesh marked

Pyongyang, March 27 (KCNA) -- The Korean Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries and the Korea-Bangladesh Friendship Association sponsored a meeting here on March 25 on the occasion of the 26th anniversary of the Independence of Bangladesh. It was attended by Chon Yon Ok, Vice-chairwoman of the Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries and Vice-chairwoman of the Korea-Bangladesh Friendship Association, and other officials concerned and working people in the city. A speech was made and a congratulatory letter to the Bangladesh President and Prime Minister was adopted at the meeting.

Party given for Thai parliamentary delegation

Pyongyang, March 27 (KCNA) -- The Standing Committee of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly hosted a party on march 26 in honour of the Thai parliamentary delegation on a visit to Korea. Invited there were the members of the Thai parliamentary delegation led by First Deputy-Speaker of the House of Representatives Sophon Phetsawang. Present were Vice-chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly Paek In Jun, and other officials concerned. Speeches were made there.

Press review

Pyongyang, March 27 (KCNA) -- Rodong Sinmun today frontpages a report that Secretary Kim Jong Il sent thanks to the officials and builders who had participated in the construction of rural dwelling houses in south Hwanghae province. Secretary Kim Jong Il received a gift from Guy F. Tozzoli, President of the World Trade Centres Association on a visit to Korea, says the press. Rodong Sinmun carries a letter to Secretary Kim Jong Il from the participants in a meeting held in Moscow in memory of President Kim Il Sung and an account of the meeting. Carried in the paper is a message of greetings the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea sent to the 7th Congress of the Communist Party of Denmark (M-L). Given in the paper is the news that the participants in a national meeting of model stock breeders visited the Kumsusan Memorial Palace to pay respect to the great leader President Kim Il Sung. Under the title "The Sun of the Nation, Lodestar of Reunification", it comes out with an article on loving care President Kim Il Sung bestowed on Choe Tok Sin, who was Chairman of the Central Committee of the Chondoist Chongu Party and Vice-chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland. The paper introduces new posters for the 15th April Spring Friendship Art Festival. Econews of the press includes news of seeding in the countryside. Rodong Sinmun carries news that bus labour unions across south Korea simultaneously entered a strike and that the U. S. imperialists and south Korean puppets deployed armed forces in the forefront areas and staged military exercises against the north. A commentary of the paper stresses that unless Kim Young Sam is overthrown, the present economic bankruptcy and living hardships in south Korea will never be removed. In the fourth instalment of an article exposing the crimes of Kim Young Sam over the four years of his office, the daily denounces him for driving the north-south relations to the worst. Minju Joson in an article condemns the Kim Young Sam group's suppression of the national teachers trade union and its members. Rodong Sinmun in a commentary denounces the remarks of the commander-in-chief of the U. S. Armed forces in the Pacific at a recent hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The paper observes the 26th anniversary of the Independence of Bangladesh. In another article the daily accuses Japan of scheming to cover its crimes against the Korean people in the past and to avoid its responsibility. The paper carries an article entitled "holey sanctions against Iraq".

Rodong Sinmun on U.S. moves to keep troops in East Asia

Pyongyang, March 27 (KCNA) -- Rodong Sinmun in a commentary today denounces the United States for scheming to keep its military presence in East Asia. Joseph Prueher, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces in the pacific, at a recent hearing of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee cried for the continued forward deployment of the 100,000 U.S. troops in East Asia, adding that the existence and participation of a militant army are awfully necessary to defend the interests of the U.S. and cope with uncertainty in the region. His utterances intensively represent the U.S. strategy towards Asia, the news analyst says, and goes on: It seeks to realise the U.S. wild ambition for domination over Asia by force of arms, keep the U.S. troops indefinitely in this region under the pretext of the "uncertainty" and facilitate armed intervention in the internal affairs of any country any moment. The U.S. Asia strategy requires to strengthen forward deployment in and around south Korea and pursue the policy of stifling the DPRK. The existence and participation of the U.S. troops will bring only military threat, harass of peace and horrors of war, not "prosperity" and "stability". If the U.S. truly wants "prosperity" and "stability" in Asia, it should not escalate tensions in this region, but strive for peace.

S. Korean fascist clique's suppression of patriots denounced

Pyongyang, March 27 (KCNA) -- The Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland in information no. 733 on March 26 denounced the south Korean fascist clique for the suppression of the patriotic-minded students and people. They also arrested some 10 students on charge of violation of the "national security law" because they formed the "national solidarity with students" and staged pro-democracy activities against dictatorship at a campus in Seoul in September, 1992. And they have launched an investigation of 3 soldiers of the puppet army on the same charge. Recently, Kim Young Sam showed up at the police school and urged the police to intensify the fascist suppression, crying for "liquidation of irregularities" and "observation of law and realization of justice" under the pretext of "security" and "public peace". The information said that this is a desperate move to get out of the serious ruling crisis by suppressing the patriotic students and people in their activities against the Kim Young Sam regime's misrule and for independence and democratization of society and for the reunification of the country. The harsh suppression in south Korea is only enkindling public anger and precipitating the destruction of the "civilian"-veiled Kim Young Sam regime.

Who brought total bankruptcy

Pyongyang, March 27 (KCNA) -- The total bankruptcy of south Korean society is an inevitable outcome of Kim Young Sam's sycophantic and reactionary policy and corrupt politics. It is the unavoidable throes of the colonial dependent economy. Rodong Sinmun stresses this in a commentary today. All the economic policies shaped by the traitor after his coming into power are out-and-out treacherous ones that have turned profits only to comprador businesses and thrown national industries and people's livelihood into the abyss of ruin, the news analyst notes, and says: Recently the Kim Young Sam group retrogressively reamended the fascist "labour laws", which reflects his criminal intention to fatten the businesses by further bleeding workers white and get much more black money from them in reward, and spend it for "security" at the end of his office and after his retirement. If the traitor Kim had offered some of the black money he got through the Hanbo loan scandal, the economy would not have been in such a total bankruptcy as it is. Under his administration, is it impossible to remove the present economic bankruptcy and living hardships in south Korea, the paper declares.

85th birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung commemorated abroad

Pyongyang, March 27 (KCNA) -- Colorful functions were held in different countries between March 13 and 18 on the occasion of the 85th birth anniversary of the great leader President Kim Il Sung. A ceremony for opening the month of a DPRK film show and photo and book exhibition (March 13-April 18) was held in Uganda. A film show and a photo exhibition were held in Tanzania and photo exhibitions by the Nigerian association for succession to the cause of President Kim Il Sung and the scientific and technological institute of the national industrial university of Mexico. On display at the exhibition halls were photographs showing the revolutionary exploits of the great leaders President Kim Il Sung and Secretary Kim Jong Il. The Minister of State for Natural Resources of Uganda who was also Chairman of the Ugandan preparatory committee for commemorating the 85th birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung said at the ceremony that the great President Kim Il Sung was a great thinker, elder statesman and an intimate friend and teacher of the African people, who founded the Juche idea, a man-centred revolutionary philosophy and indicated the road ahead of humankind.

Kim Young Sam trying to gloss over his son's wrongdoings

Pyongyang, March 27 (KCNA) - Kim Young Sam of south Korea, who has been put to shame over the Hanbo incident, is now in a fix with more misdeeds of his son Kim Hyon Chol, who should have already been prosecuted, disclosed recently. When the Sam Mi Speciality Steel Works was declared insolvent in the wake of the Hanbo incident, it transpired that Kim Hyon Chol was involved in the Sam Mi incident. It has also been revealed that his agent got a rebate of 200 billion won for him through contracts between the Hanbo business group and foreign companies. The anger of the people and political circles was growing stronger with the revelation of a plot hatched by Kim Hyon Chol with his associates and through his private organization to avoid a "parliamentary interpellation session." Upset by the developments, The Kim Young Sam group is desperately trying to conceal the truth and assuage public anger. In order to put a gag on those related to the incident, the group has forced them to cancel even their planned press conferences, saying that unfettered media reports on the Hanbo incident are undesirable. Meanwhile, Kim Young Sam, feeling uneasy about even the formal investigation into the incident, which has been going on in a planned way, arranged by the puppet prosecution, has opently suggested its stoppage. He, through the "Secretary General of the New Korea Party", said on March 24, "the investigation should be carried out as early as possible to keep the suspicion concerning the Hanbo incident from increasing" and "prosecution has the same view." This means that he, at bottom, ordered to hush up the incident by bringing the investigation to an end hastily. All the facts show his clan's crimes revealed through the Hanbo incident are only the tip of the iceberg and that with Kim Young Sam, the chief culprit of the incident, left in power, true criminals of the incident can never be detected and punished.

Art festival posters

Pyongyang, March 27 (KCNA) -- Pyongyang streets are decorated with posters of the 15th April Spring Friendship Art Festival. They are helpful towards boosting the atmosphere of the traditional festival of the world's progressive men of culture and art to be held here around April 15, the birth anniversary of the great leader President Kim Il Sung. The festival, which will be held from April 7 to 18, will involve colorful music, instrumental music, dance and acrobatic pieces and will be participated in by many art troupes and acrobatic teams from five continents and by Korean artistes at home and abroad. Included in the art troupes will be international and national contest winners. The poster with the festival flag and the word "welcome" shows well the Korean people's friendly feelings towards the foreign artistes. Another poster portrays different countries' artistes, in national costume, holding high the festival mark against the background of the blue sky above Pyongyang with doves flying. A poster portraying a violinist and a poster showing a magician inscribing 15 with playing cards are also included in the new posters.

Chongryon officials vow to devote themselves to convening tripartite joint conference

Tokyo, March 25 (KNS-KCNA) -- Pak Ku Ho, Chairman of the League of Korean Youth in Japan, and Kim Il Sun, Chairwoman of the Democratic Union of Korean Women in Japan, released statements on March 22 supporting the proposal for holding contacts with south Korean organisations made by senior officials of public organisations in the northern half of Korea in letters addressed to them. In the statements, they stressed that they would actively join in a nationwide struggle to make this a "year of solidarity of Koreans in the north, the south and overseas for national independence and peace" and devote their all to the convocation of a tripartite joint conference.

Periodicals of DPRK

Pyongyang, March 27 (KCNA) -- Hundreds of kinds of periodicals including the newspaper Rodong Sinmun and the magazine Kulloja are issued in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Among them, the Pyongyang Times, Korea Today, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and foreign trade of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea have a great many foreign subscribers. The eight-page Pyongyang Times (size 270x390) is published in English and French once a week. It carries major international news as well as articles on society, the economy, culture and history of Korea. It has 173,000 readers in some 160 countries. The monthly magazine Korea Today (size 185x225, 50-55 pages and the bimonthly pictorial the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (size 220x300, 40-50 pages) carry photo-illustrated articles on society, the economy, culture, history, geography, tourism and political events in Korea. The monthly, published in Russian, Chinese, English, French, Spanish and Arabic, has 138,000 readers in 154 countries and the pictorial 167,500 readers in 165 countries. The quarterly magazine foreign trade of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (size 185x225, 40-45 pages) introduces specialities and trading corporations of the DPRK. It is published in Russian, Chinese, English, French, Spanish and Japanese. Its subscribers number 28,000 in 97 countries, including people and corporations that wish trade with the DPRK and are interested in economic development and special products of the DPRK.

Greetings to Jordanian Prime Minister

Pyongyang, March 27 (KCNA) -- Hong Song Nam, Acting Premier of the Administration Council, sent a message of greetings to Abdul Salam Al Majali upon his appointment as Jordanian Prime Minister. The message wished the prime minister new success in his responsible work. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Kim Yong Nam sent a message of greetings to Fawez Al Tarawneh upon his appointment as Jordanian Foreign Minister.

Delegation of World Trade Centres Association leaves

Pyongyang, March 27 (KCNA) -- The delegation of the World Trade Centres Association led by its President Guy F. Tozzoli left here today after winding up a three-day visit to Korea. Vice-Premier Kong Jin Thae met and had a friendly talk with the delegation on Wednesday. During the visit the delegation went round the old home of the great leader President Kim Il Sung in Mangyongdae, the Tower of the Juche Idea and streets in Pyongyang.