Meeting held to mark 42nd anniversary of Independence of Sudan

Pyongyang, January 6 (KCNA) -- A meeting was held here on January 5 under the sponsorship of the Korea-Sudan Friendship Association to commemorate the 42nd anniversary of the Independence of Sudan. Present at the meeting together with working people in the city were Ri Song Ho, Vice-Chairman of the Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries and Vice-Chairman of the association, and members of the association. A speech was made at the meeting. Then a congratulatory letter to the Sudanese President was adopted.

Determination to make 1998 year of socialist victors

Pyongyang, January 6 (KCNA) -- Working people and servicemen of Korea are filled with firm determination to make 1998 a year of socialist victors in hearty response to the Joint Editorial of the newspapers Rodong Sinmun and Joson Inmingun. Chief Secretary Yon Hyong Muk of the Jagang Provincial Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea said all the party members and other working people in the Province are determined to effect a new upswing and innovations in general march of socialism this year. And he vowed to imbue them with the idea of the red flag of General Secretary Kim Jong Il more thoroughly and greatly encourage them to implementation of economic tasks. Ryo Chun Sok, a general of the Korean People's Army (KPA), had this to say: "The KPA, which has covered a road of glory as the army of the leader and the party, will this year, too, faithfully uphold the leadership of General Kim Jong Il, a peerless General, by taking the lead in defending and accomplishing the cause of the Juche revolution." First Vice-Chairman Kim Chang Sik of the State Agricultural Commission vowed to properly solve the seed problem through the green revolution, do two-crop farming and do all farming as required by the Juche method of farming under the slogan "when the party is determined we can do anything " Vice-Minister Pak Pong Sam of the coal industry vowed to fully tap inner reserves in reliance upon the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and hard work, push ahead with the positive drive to provide production conditions by their own efforts and thus increase coal production steadily.

Party for art group of Korean students from Japan

Pyongyang, January 6 (KCNA) - General Secretary Kim Jong Il gave a party for the art group of Korean students from Japan at Moknan House on January 5. Present at the party were Kwon Sun Hwi, Vice-Chairman of the Central Standing Committee of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon), the art group led by Kim Sun Chol, a Section Chief of the Chongryon Central Standing Committee, the home-visiting group of students of Joson University under Chongryon and Korean residents in Japan staying in the socialist fatherland. Kim Su Ik, General Director of the General Bureau of Reception for Overseas Compatriots, and other officials were present at the party. Kwon Sun Hwi said in his speech that General Kim Jong Il is the affectionate father. Korean students in Japan will absolutely and invariably trust and follow General Kim Jong Il, who shapes the destiny of the nation, as the great leader, he noted.

Floral basket to G.S. Kim Jong Il from Guinean President

Pyongyang, January 6 (KCNA) -- A floral basket was sent to General Secretary Kim Jong Il by Guinean President Lansana Conte on the occasion of the New Year. General Secretary of the Guinean Presidency El Hadji Fode Bangoura, authorized by the Guinean President, paid a congratulatory visit to the Korean Embassay in Conakry on Dec. 31 and conveyed the floral basket to the Korean Ambassador.

Confidence-building step should be taken

Pyongyang, January 6 (KCNA) -- Talks and contacts for improving the DPRK-U.S. relations have been held over the past one year but, to our regret, failed to bear desired fruit. Commenting on this, Rodong Sinmun today says: this is attributable to the distrust and hostile policy of the United States toward the DPRK. Above all, the United States continued to spread the fiction of "threat from North Korea". It is styling itself as the "only superpower". And it is almost monopolizing nuclear weapons. Its military strength is said to be the strongest in the world. The DPRK and the United States are several thousand miles away from each other with the Pacific Ocean in between. Those with reasonable thinking faculty would not say the DPRK poses threat to the United States. The United States has continued intelligence activities against the DPRK. Recently, it was disclosed that a U.S. agent bugged a telephone of a member of a DPRK mission abroad. Worse still, the U.S. is raising the DPRK's abandonment of "terrorism" as a prerequisite to the total lifting of sanctions. We have nothing to do with terrorism and have long been opposed to any terrorist act. The U.S. demand for the DPRK's abandonment of "terrorism" means that it would not totally lift the sanctions. To mistrust and antagonize the partner while crying for the improvement of relations with it is not the stand to improve the relations. If the United States truly wants to improve the relations with the DPRK, it should discontinue mistrusting and antagonizing the DPRK and take a step for confidence building first of all.

U.S.-Japan military collusion goes over danger line

Pyongyang, January 6 (KCNA) -- In 1997 the U.S.-Japan military collusion was strengthened and rendered more dangerous, stresses Rodong Sinmun in an article today. The article says: In the year 1996, the United States and Japan set up a cornerstone of new military tieups which they call the "joint declaration on security" and openly cried for an expansion of the tieups, coincident with the end of the Cold War. And, in the year 1997, they built up a pillar of war, that is new "U.S.-Japan defense cooperation guidelines", and pressed ahead in full scale with the preparations to that effect. The new "guidelines" is, needless to say, a doctrine of war that has legalized and deepened the U.S.-Japan military tieups. It suggests that the United States and Japan may launch a joint military operation abroad "in case of emergency surrounding Japan". Underlying it is a scheme to enlarge the scope of overseas aggression unrestrictedly by defining, at any moment, any place outside Japan as a "region surrounding Japan". Noting the moves for materializing the new "guidelines" were carried on at a dangerous stage last year, the article continues: The new "guidelines" has already stepped into a practical stage, with the northern half of korea as its first target. The U.S.-Japan military alliance is not "imballanced", but has been developing into a perfect alliance, a ballanced one. The world's peace-loving people and the Asian people should heighten vigilance against their military collusion.