G.S. Kim Jong Il visits KPA unit no. 337
Pyongyang, January 2 (KCNA) -- Kim Jong Il, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, Chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission and Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army (KPA), visited KPA unit no. 337 to congratulate KPA soldiers on New Year's day.
He was greeted by KPA lt. General Kim Hyong Ryong, Maj. General Paek Pok Yong and other generals and officers and commanding officers of the unit.
Conducted by the unit's commander, General Kim Jong Il looked round the place associated with President Kim Il Sung's activities and the room for education in revolutionary history.
General Kim Jong Il said the growth of the unit into an invincible unit is ascribable to the wise leadership and meticulous care of President Kim Il Sung.
At the operation command room, he heard a report on the situation from the unit's commander and learned how the unit was discharging its duty.
He then looked round the hydro-electric power station, the welfare and supply facilities, dining room, green house and other logistic facilities built by the unit.
He expressed great satisfaction over the fact that the commanding officers and soldiers of the unit had built the wonderful logistic facilities in the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and showed high appreciation for their feats.
All the units of the KPA are managing units and economic life well, he said. This is a proud trait of the heroic KPA that inherited the brilliant tradition of the anti-Japanese war.
Noting that the supply service is of great significance in increasing the combat efficiency of units, he put forward highly important tasks to improve the unit management and supply service throughout the army.
Expressing his expectation and belief that all the servicemen of the unit would continue to exalt the honor of guards and defend the socialist homeland as firm as a rock, he gave them a machine gun, an automatic rifle and a pair of binoculars as souvenirs.
Congratulatory message to G.S. Kim Jong Il from NDFSK Central Committee
Pyongyang, January 2 (KCNA) - General Secretary Kim Jong Il received a congratulatory message from the Central Committee of the National Democratic Front of South Korea (NDFSK) on January 1, on the New Year Juche 87 (1998).
The message says on the morning of the New Year's Day the NDFSK Central Committee extends best wishes for longevity to General Kim Jong Il, carrying the deepest reverence and respect of all the vanguard fighters and patriotic people from all walks of life in South Korea.
Last year was a proud year that fully demonstrated the greatness of the three generals of Mt. Paektu produced by heaven and a noteworthy year of glory that firmly guaranteed the victory of the people's cause of independence, the cause of socialism, as Marshal Kim Jong Il was elected General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, it says, and continues:
The New Year is the first year after he was acclaimed as General Secretary of the WPK and a significant year that marks Sun's Day for the first time, the greatest holiday of the nation and the common jubilee of humankind, and the 50th founding anniversary of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The message expresses the resolve to hold higher the banner of national independence, push ahead with the nation-wide struggle to reunify the country by confederacy formula, check and frustrate the anti-peace, anti-reunification moves of the splittists at home and abroad and open an epochal phase of national reunification without fail.
Congratulatory message to G.S. Kim Jong Il from Chairman Han Tok Su of Chongryon
Pyongyang, January 2 (KCNA) - General Secretary Kim Jong Il received a congratulatory message from Chairman Han Tok Su of the Central Standing Committee of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) on January 1, on the New Year Juche 87 (1998).
On the first morning of the hopeful New Year of fresh victory in the Juche cause and the movement of Koreans in Japan and of happiness Chongryon Central Standing Committee sincerely extends greatest glory and warmest congratulations to General Kim Jong Il, carrying the deepest reverence and warm loyalty and filial piety of all Chongryon officials and Koreans in Japan, the message says, and continues:
Last year, the third year after the death of President Kim Il Sung you great General accomplished the cause of immortalizing the president for all ages on the noblest level, inspected in person the forefront areas including height 1211 and greatly encouraged the whole party, the whole army and all the people to the final charge for finishing the "arduous march" triumphantly.
It was thanks to the great idea, leadership and unlimited solicitude of you General that last year full of hardships inprecedented since the inauguration of Chongryon we could firmly defend Chongryon, the patriotic legacy of President Kim Il Sung, through a courageous struggle against the subversive manoeuvres of the reactionaries in Japan and abroad and conduct patriotic activities with a single heart to safeguard you General in every way.
The message expresses the determination to decorate the coming 18th Congress of Chongryon as a get-together of loyalty and unity and of victors, firmly build up Chongryon into a patriotic organisation loyal to the General's idea and leadership and further strengthen and develop the movement of Koreans in Japan into a truly patriotic movement serving the Juche cause.
Floral baskets laid before President Kim Il Sung's Statues
Pyongyang, January 2 (KCNA) -- The working people, soldiers of the Korean People's Army (KPA), schoolchildren and students throughout the country on Jan. 1 laid floral baskets before the statues of President Kim Il Sung on the New Year Juche 87 (1998).
Those in Pyongyang visited the President's Statue on Mansu Hill.
laid before his Statue was a floral basket from Kim Jong Il, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, Chairman of the National Defense Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the KPA Supreme Commander.
The floral baskets, bouquets and flowers were placed before the Statue in the name of the party, government, administrative and economic organs, national institutions, KPA units, municipal organs, enterprises, organizations, factories, co-op farms, schools and families in the city.
Floral baskets, bouquets and flowers were put before the President's Statues in other places of Pyongyang.
The people, soldiers of the KPA, schoolchildren and students across the country visited the statues of the President in their localities on the same day.
Foreign diplomats here, members of the Pyongyang mission of the National Democratic Front of South Korea and the delegations and home-visiting groups of overseas compatriots laid floral baskets before the President's Statue on Mansu Hill on Jan. 1.
Greetings to G.S. Kim Jong Il from Koreans in Japan
Pyongyang, January 2 (KCNA) - General Secretary Kim Jong Il received messages of greetings from Korean organizations, organs and compatriots in Japan on the New Year Juche 87 (1998).
Among them are the Standing Council of the Federation of Korean Traders and Industrialists in Japan, the Central Standing Committee of the League of Korean Youth in Japan, the Central Standing Committee of the Democratic Union of Korean Women in Japan, the Standing Council of the Federation of Korean Religionists in Japan, organizations of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) and their local organizations, business bodies, Chongryon Prefectural headquraters, Korean schools of all levels including Joson University and Koreans of all strata.
The messages expressed their firm resolution to greet Sun's Day for the first time in the New Year, the 50th anniversary of the founding of the DPRK and the 18th Congress of Chongryon with greater success in their work.
Messages also came from the International United Confederation of Koreans and the Federation of Korean Nationals in China.
Korean book published in India
Pyongyang, January 2 (KCNA) -- A book "Single-hearted unity of Korea" was published in India on Dec. 19 last year with due ceremony to commemorate the 6th anniversary of the election of General Kim Jong Il as Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army.
The Indian Minister of State for Energy Resources said that the book reflects the characteristics of Korean society. It is President Kim Il Sung who achieved the unity and cohesion of the Korean people and it is General Kim Jong Il who is successfully carrying forward this tradition, he stressed.