Reckless arms purchase from Russia = KCNA commentary =
Pyongyang, June 15 (KCNA) -- Recently, the South Korean puppets reportedly invited a high-ranking official of the Defence Ministry of Russia to South Korea and discussed with him introduction from Russia of technologies concerning production and operation of sophisticated attack weapons and other up-to-the-minute weapons.
The arms deal with Russia fully reveals how frantic the South Korean rulers are in war preparations.
Now the tension on the Korean peninsula has become all the more strained with the puppets purchasing missiles and other weapons from the United States and ceaselessly staging joint military manoeuvres with it and with the military collusion between the United States and Japan being strengthened.
It is apparently against the north that the puppets have staged military drills almost every day and purchased weapons not only from the United States but Russia though they have been suffering a serious political and economic crisis.
The allegation that the arms supply to South Korea is not against a third country is nonsense and a mockery of the peaceloving people of Asia and the world.
The puppets are scheming to introduce modern weapons and military technologies from Russia under the pretexts of "payment of debts" and "commercial dealing." In actuality, however, they intend to inveigle Russia into the "cooperation system" against the north by availing themselves of Russia's difficult conditions.
We have warned more than once that arms introduction from abroad is not merely a commercial dealing but a grave hostile act in view of the acute political and military situation of the Korean peninsula, where the unstable state of armistice has continued. Such a hostile act may lead to outbreak of war and its expansion.
if the South Korean puppets steadily go ahead with reckless military buildup, in defiance of our warning, they will meet their disgraceful end earlier.
The time and history will never tolerate the reckless war preparations and military buildup of those who threaten peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and the rest of Asia and obstruct Korean reunification.
Kim Jong Il sends wreath to bier of Choe Chang Sok
Pyongyang, June 15 (KCNA) - General Secretary Kim Jong Il sent a wreath to the bier of former minister of public health Choe Chang Sok to express deep condolences over his death.
Talks held between students in north, south and abroad
Pyongyang, June 15 (KCNA) -- Talks between students in the north, south and abroad were held in Pyongyang, Seoul and Tokyo on June 13 by facsimile telegraph.
Present at the talks were delegations led by directors of the secretariats of the north, south and overseas headquarters of the national alliance of youths and students for the country's reunification (Pomchonghakryon).
Originally, the talks were scheduled to be held in Panmunjom on June 13 under the agreement reached at the eighth meeting of the presidium of Pomchonghakryon. But the talks were held by fascimile telegraph owing to the obstructions on the part of the South Korean authorities.
The agenda items included matters concerning an expedition of students in the north, the south and abroad to historical and cultural relics in the northern half of Korea in the period between August and October, their academic seminar and soccer games of Pomchonghakryon for reunification. A complete agreement was reached on the agenda items.
A June 13 resolution of students in the north, south and abroad to achieve reconciliation and great unity of the nation through successful independent exchanges was adopted at the talks.
The resolution says the students in the north, the south and abroad will have the expedition, academic seminar and soccer games under any circumstances and always take the lead in the efforts for reconciliation and great unity of the nation.
It calls upon them to remove all hurdles lying in the way of reconciliation and great unity of the nation with their clenched fists and by force of unity, do away with the "National Security Law" and the "Agency for National Security Planning" with their own efforts and work harder for independent exchanges of students.
On the same day, the north side delegation to the talks released a statement after the orignial plan for the talks was not fulfilled owing to obstructions by the South Korean authorities.
In the statement the delegation bitterly denounced the South Korean authorities for blocking the talks in Panmunjom, describing their act as an unpardonable challenge to all the fellow countrymen aspiring after great national unity and reunification.
The statement warned that the South Korean authorities must know well that with nothing can they keep students from fighting for the unity of the nation and the reunification of the country.
Letters to S. Korean students
Pyongyang, June 15 (KCNA) -- Student committees of Kim Il Sung University and Sinuiju University of Medicine in North Phyongan Province under the north headquarters of the national alliance of youths and students for the country's reunification (Pomchonghakryon) sent letters to student councils of Yeongnam University and Sunchon National College under the south headquarters of Pomchonghakryon.
The letters congratulated students in South Korea on the inauguration of the sixth-term South Korean federation of university student councils, and expressed support for their struggle.
The student committee of Kim Il Sung University suggested that on the 52nd anniversary of Kim Il Sung University the students of the two universities should have a forum on the subject of "role of students in building reunified country."
The student committee of Sinuiju University of Medicine asked students of Sunchon National College to take the lead all the time in the struggle for the independent reunification of the country this year and work hard for holding the third meeting of students in the south, the north and abroad on the coming August 15.
Spokesman for Foreign Ministry on Rimpac joint military manoeuvres
Pyongyang, June 15 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea today released a statement on Rimpac 98 joint military manoeuvres which will be staged in the heart of the pacific for a month from July 6.
The statement says:
The United States advertises that the projected Rimpac is for "a joint action" to be taken by multinational forces on the basis of an imaginary resolution of the UN Security Council to cope with "invasion" of any country in the Asia-Pacific region. In actuality it seeks in this to incarnate through the manoeuvres of multinational forces its design to isolate and stifle the DPRK by force of arms.
As already reported, the navy of the U.S. will play a leading role in the manoeuvres in which the naval forces of the U.S., Japan, South Korea and other countries will be involved, and some 70 surface vessels and submarines, including a U.A. aircraft carrier, and more than 280 warplanes of various kinds and upwards of 30,000 troopers will participate in the manoeuvres.
The U.S. continues staging the Rimpac manoeuvres, a legacy of the cold war era, on an expansion basis. This is, in fact, an open military challenge aimed at bringing into shape an international system of allied forces against the DPRK. It is a threat to the DPRK as well.
The U.S. has so far advertised as if it is interested in "preserving peace" on the Korean peninsula and "improved relations" with the DPRK.
As the facts show, the U.S. hostile policy towards the DPRK still continues and remains unchanged.
It is not without reason that the U.S. is trying to revise the "South Korea-U.S. mutual defence treaty" against the DPRK in the wake of the recent revision of the "guidelines for U.S.-Japan defence cooperation" for more aggressive ones allegedly to cope with an "emergency" on the Korean peninsula.
In the final analysis, the U.S. intends to steadily improve "alliance treaties" with its followers, the puppets, in favor of it, inveigle them into military manoeuvres and realise its design to stifle the DPRK by force of arms.
The projected manoeuvres against the DPRK fully defy the New York joint statement between the DPRK and the U.S. and the DPRK-U.S. framework agreement in which the U.S. pledged not to pursue the policy hostile towards the DPRK nor threaten it by force of arms.
The Rimpac manouvres prove that the U.S. is openly pursuing the policy of "strength" to gain mastery over the countries in the Asia-Pacific region and place them under its control by force of arms. The manoeuvres will only result in playing havoc with environment of security in the region as well as the atmosphere of confidence which is being built among the nations.
Joining in the U.S.-led manoeuvres under various pretexts cannot be construed otherwise than backing the power policy of the U.S. which is trying to keep hold of the countries in the Asia-Pacific region by force of arms and lord it over in the region, providing the U.S. with pretexts for its permanent military presence in the region and helping the U.S. and its followers in a campaign to stifle the DPRK by force of arms.
The U.S. must fundamentally rectify its anachronistic hostile policy towards to the DPRK as demanded by the world people who want peace.
The Korean people and army will keep a sharpened vigilance against the manoeuvres.
Chairman of 7th-term Namchongryon elected
Pyongyang, June 15 (KCNA) -- The Kwangju and South Jolla Provincial Federation of University Student Councils (Namchongryon) at its inaugural ceremony on June 13 elected chairman of the general student council of Sunchon National College Jong Ho Gyun chairman of the 7th-term Namchongryon, according to a South Korean radio report.
It held the inaugural ceremony by surprise in a street in Kwangju in the teeth of brutal suppression by fascist police with the participation of some 800 students in areas of Kwangju and South Jolla Province.
Prior to the ceremony, some 500 students under Namchongryon demonstrated for hours at the plaza in front of Kwangju railway station and other areas, chanting "stop to the crackdown upon student movement" and "guarantee the opening of the inaugural ceremony."
Military trainings to be held in S. Korea
Pyongyang, June 15 (KCNA) -- The South Korean puppets announced that a "civilian defence training" would be staged today throughout South Korea, according to radio reports from Seoul.
The warmaniacs said 31 planes would fly over Seoul and other major cities in the training aimed at "defence from chemical, biological and radioactive attacks."
They also announced that a military training will be staged in Seoul from June 15 to 20 with the mobilization of tanks and armoured vehicles.
Rodong Sinmun calls for significantly greeting SPA election
Pyongyang, June 15 (KCNA) -- Rodong Sinmun today calls on the members of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and all other working people to greet the election of deputies to the Supreme People's Assembly with unfailing loyalty to the party and the leader, a high degree of political enthusiasm and tremendous labor achievements.
In an editorial the daily says:
The forthcoming election will be a political event of weighty importance in strengthening the DPRK government and enhancing its role in keeping with the requirements of the new era of Juche revolution.
Ours is a genuine socialist government guided by the Juche idea and centred on the masses of the people and a powerful weapon for the revolution and construction.
It has entered a higher stage of its development under the leadership of General Kim Jong Il. The election will mark an important occasion in further strengthening the government to thoroughly implement his ideas and ensure his leadership.
Significantly greeting the election is an honorable and northwhile undertaking for fully demonstrating the singlehearted unity of the Korean people and an important work for bringing the advantages of Korean socialism centred on the masses into full play and accelerating the forced march of socialism.
All the party members and working people should resolve to exalt the great achievements made by the party and the leader in establishing the best socialist government and effect a fresh upsurge of Chollima (a legendary winged horse) in all domains of socialist construction.
Seminar on Kim Jong Il's work held in Russia
Pyongyang, June 15 (KCNA) -- A seminar on General Kim Jong Il's work "Let Us Reunify the Country Independently and Peacefully Through the Great Unity of the Entire Nation" published on April 18, Juche 87 (1998) was held in Moscow on June 11.
Present at the seminar were members of the association of scientists for the study of human affairs in the present world, scholars of the institute of sociology and the institute of oriental studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, chief Mikhail Konkin of the Russian Centre for the Study of Kimjongilism and other figures of public, academic and press circles.
A. M. Kovalyov, chairman of the association of scientists for the study of human affairs in the present world, said in his opening address that Kim Jong Il is an outstanding man who develops and enriches the Juche idea with energetic ideological and theoretical activities.
Yuri Vanin, chief of the section of Korean affairs of the Institute of Oriental Studies, said in his report that the five-point policy of great national unity indicates a way of accelerating the reunification of the country with the great unity of the Korean nation.
Speakers said that the historic work of Kim Jong Il serves as a great programme of unity and development which indicates ways of solving national problems in the world as well as the issue of Korea's reunification. The South Korean authorities should accept the five-point policy of great national unity and assure the Korean people and humankind of their willingness for unity and reunification, they noted.
World-first inventions in Korea
Pyongyang, June 15 (KCNA) -- There are many world-first inventions in Korea which boasts of a 5,000-year-long history.
Among them is a tortoise boat which was well known in battles against Japanese invaders during the Imjin Patriotic War (1592-1598).
The two-storied ship looks like a tortoise lying flat on the ground= its surface was covered with prickly iron plates so that the enemy could not climb it.
Up to 270 soldiers could board the ship= the right and left sides of the ship had 10 oars each= and there were 68 firing holes on either side.
The dragon head installed at the prow was designed to emit the smoke of burned sulfur and nitre.
This shows that the ship was about 200 years more advanced than the iron-clad fleet of Spain, France and Britain and that Korea used the smokescreen more than 300 years before Russia did during the first world war.
There is also a winged flying vehicle of bird shape.
It could fly up to 12 kilometres. This was far ahead of the world record that a person flew in the air for the first time in 1783 with a baloon.
The rainfall gauge of the Ri Dynasty (1441) was the first of its kind in the world.
It was more than 200 years ahead of a rain gauge made in Italy in 1639.
A range finder of wheel shape was manufactured in 1443.
It had three revolving toothed wheels installed at the cart wheel. Distances could be measured from the sounds of the bell and drum adjusted at the central and last toothed wheels.
Measured distances were considerably accurate.
The inventions in Korea include the world-first metal printing type (at the end of the 12th century) and a gun (toward the end of the 14th century).
S. Korean students vow not to withdraw from Hanchongryon
Pyongyang, June 15 (KCNA) -- Students of Yeongnam University in South Korea made public a statement on June 10 declaring that they would not withdraw from the South Korean Federation of University Student Councils (Hanchongryon), according to a report.
In the declaration, they, who were also deputies to Hanchongryon, urged the puppet authorities to immediately abrogate the provision branding Hanchongryon, invincible patriotic ranks, as an "organisation benefiting the enemy" and stop forcing its deputies to secede from it.
It stressed that the deputies of Yeongnam University would not make such a despicable choice as withdrawing from Hanchongryon but keep their will for justice and struggle and unhesitatingly serve prison terms.
Withdrawal from Hanchongryon is an ideological conversion of dishonoring the political integrity and conscience. And pressures for withdrawal are shameless attempts to force students to write documents on conversion without an equal in the world and thus do away with their grounds for activities, it said, and stressed:
The deputies of Yeongnam University will defend Hanchongryon to the last and fight a more powerful struggle.