Reception given to mark 37th anniversary of signing of DPRK-China treaty
Pyongyang, July 10 (KCNA) -- The committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries and the Central Committee of the DPRK-China Friendship Association gave a reception on July 9 to mark the 37th anniversary of the signing of the DPRK-China treaty on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance.
Chairman Choe Hui Jong of the state commission of science and technology, addressing the reception, said the treaty has withstood all kinds of storms of history for the last 37 years after its signing, contributing to defending socialism in the two countries and peace and stability in northeast Asia.
Choe, who is also chairman of the central committee of the association, said:
The relief goods the government and people of China gave the Korean people on several occasions in recent years helped the Korean people do away with the damage caused by natural disasters and get agricultural production back on a stable track. The Korean people keenly feel indebted to the Chinese people for their assistance.
Choe hoped that the fraternal Chinese people under the leadership of the party led by the respected Jiang Zemin would achieve a new success in building socialism with Chinese characteristics and unifying the whole country.
In his reply Chinese ambassador Wan Yongxiang said the Communist Party and the government of china set great store by the traditional Sino-Korean friendship and do everything they can to steadily consolidate and develop friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries.
He expressed the belief that no matter which way international situation may change the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK would certainly be kept in bloom more beautifully.
Today the fraternal Korean people, he noted, are making every possible effort to adorn the elections of deputies to the 10th Supreme People's Assembly and the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the DPRK with great achievements, giving full play to the spirit of self-reliance and fortitude and the spirit of the forced march under the guidance of General Secretary Kim Jong Il.
They are joyful at having nominated him for the 10th SPA, Wan said, adding that the elections would be successful and socialist construction of Korea would move ahead without letup.
U.S. urged to take immediate step for troop pullout
Pyongyang, July 10 (KCNA) -- Papers here today carry commentaries urging the United States to immediately take a step for the withdrawal of its troops from South Korea.
Rodong Sinmun says the United States should know that the call for its military presence in South Korea for an indefinite period is an anachronistic one the unreasonableness of which is admitted even by U.S. strategists.
The daily says:
The United States, ignoring the changed situation and public desire, is advertising the "necessity" of its military presence in the hope of keeping its troops in South Korea for an indefinite period. Some time ago, U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen said the U.S. troops should be kept on the Korean peninsula even after its reunification.
The U.S. military occupation of South Korea is unreasonable in every respect.
In actuality, the U.S. policy of military presence in South Korea has become a serious problem in the international community. Due to the presence of U.S. troops in South Korea and their reckless military manoeuvres, the Cold War has not yet been terminated on the Korean peninsula but the situation has become all the more strained. Such developments threaten the peace and security of Asia and impede a proper development of the international situation.
If the United States is to work out a new Asia policy and a new Korea policy suitable to the next century, it should promptly take a step for the withdrawal of its troops from South Korea and Japan.
Minju Joson says only when the united states withdraws its troops from South Korea and Asia as early as possible, a favorable climate will be provided for the reunification and peace of the Korean peninsula and for the peace and security of Asia.
Korean books donated to India
Pyongyang, July 10 (KCNA) -- A Korean book-donating ceremony took place at the central committee of the all-India forward bloc on the occasion of the fourth death anniversary of President Kim Il Sung.
The DPRK ambassador to India handed famous works of the President, the second volume of the anti-Japanese revolution, part 1 of his reminiscences "With the Century," and celebrated works of General Kim Jong Il and other Korean books to the General Secretary of the C.C., the All-India Forward Bloc.
The General Secretary said that the revolutionary cause of the president is being successfully carried forward by the respected Kim Jong Il.
He expressed full support to and solidarity with the Korean people in their struggle for socialist construction and national reunification, saying that his party will continue strengthening comradely relations with the Workers' Party of Korea.
Handicraft training course closes in Brazil
Pyongyang, July 10 (KCNA) -- A handicraft training course was closed in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, on June 29 with due ceremony.
Exhibited at the closing ceremony place were Korean handiworks and graduation works of trainees.
Tania Jardim, deputy speaker of the Rio De Janeiro state assembly, in a speech said that General Kim Jong Il sent excellent handicraftsmen of Korea to open a new chapter for the cultural development of Brazil.
"The trainees are the first pioneers and valuable seeds of the handicraft sector of brazil who learned from the handicraft of Korea," he said. "friendship and understanding between Brazil and Korea have been deepened through cultural exchange."
Slogan calling fourth faith and optimism
Pyongyang, July 10 (KCNA) -- The slogan "Let's be always cheerful, though our way is thorny " is found everywhere in Korea. The slogan fully mirrors the courage and faith in certain victory with which the Korean people are cheerfully pulling through manifold ordeals and hardships as they are led by General Kim Jong Il.
Visiting Huichon, Jagang Province, in June last, Kim Jong Il saw this slogan hanging on the wall of a production building of the youth electric complex, and said it is a very good slogan.
When he called at the February 26 Factory he saw the workers full of faith and optimism and encouraged them, saying, "Socialism is winning victory after victory and we should be always cheerful though our way is thorny."
His deep loving care and trust have made people strong in faith and struggle.
In a recent month the production of rolled steel and steel increased three times and 1.5 times respectively and hundreds of millions of more kwh of electricity was turned out compared with the previous period. This year more than 2,000 minor power stations have been built.
Signal achievements have been made in the broad gauge railway projects between Haeju and Ongjin and between Singangryong and Pupho and at the construction site of a new road between the Rimhung intersection and Sinmi-dong in Pyongyang and other projects across the country.
Owing to the imperialists' moves to isolate and stifle the DPRK and years of devastating natural disasters, the Korean people are facing difficulties in life including food shortage, but they are convinced of victory, not discouraged by them.
Jagang Province is already making a march of paradise after successfully finishing the "forced march" in the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance. It has built many minor power stations to meet its need for electricity by itself. The number of such areas and units is on the increase.
The Korean people are pushing ahead with production and construction under the slogan "Let's be always cheerful, though our way is thorny " in order to significantly greet the 50th anniversary of the DPRK as a grand festival of victors.
S. Korean workers struggle
Pyongyang, July 10 (KCNA) -- More than 3,000 unionists of the Korea heavy industries and construction co., ltd. went on a strike on July 6 in protest against the puppet authorities' plan for privatizing public businesses, according to a radio report from Seoul.
On the same day, trade unions of 31 banks and 40 reciprocal credit banks across South Korea also entered into strikes to protest against the puppet clique's step for closing banks.
The unionists vowed to reject the puppet clique's massive layoff and frustrate their moves to trample underfoot the vital rights of the workers.
More than 10,000 unionists of the Hyun Dai Motor Company, in a strike for the vital rights, held a rally and demonstration against the reactionary layoff system on July 7.
Gold pendent earring of Palhae
Pyongyang, July 10 (KCNA) -- A gold pendent earring, which dates back to Palhae (698-926,) has recently appeared at the Korean Central History Museum.
It had been unearthed during a survey of tombs of Palhae in Jongmun-ri, Hwadae county, north Hamgyong Province.
It is 4.1 centimetres long.
It consists of two rings.
The oval ring, as large as 2 centimeres in diametre, is a roll of pure gold sheet. Another ring is 4 millimetres in thickness. It has a gourd-shaped hanging ornament, which is 6 millimetres in diametre.
The pendent earring is of weighty academic importance in that it well shows the technique of goldwork, as well as the culture of Palhae that inherited the culture of Koguryo and put it onto a higher level.
Coastline reshaped
Pyongyang, July 10 (KCNA) -- More than 26,600 hectares have been reclaimed from the sea on the western coast and are now ready for agriculture. This was the result of a nationwide win-soil-from-the-sea campaign launched a decade ago to gain additional agricultural land. From Pidan island at the northwestern tip of Korea at the mouth of Amnok River to the middle of west coast Rimhan-ri of Phanmun county sea walls have been erected to bring tidal flats into active agricultural use and thus create new highly intensive granaries.
More than 100 islands and islets have been linked with the mainland to reduce the length of coastline by more than 500 kilometres, thus pushing the coastline 12 kilometres offshore.
In the newly-reclaimed land, dozens of reservoirs and many salterns, fish-culture ponds and chemical-fibre producing centres, as well as the state and cooperative farms and workteams, have come into being.
The drive to reclaim tidal flats, initiated by the DPRK government and the Workers' Party of Korea, reached a high-water mark in the 1980s.
More and more sea walls were erected to link one peninsula with another and islands with the mainland. To take a few examples, a dozens-of-kilometre-long dike connecting the Tasa islet in Yomju county and Rihwa-ri, Cholsan county to create a new granary of 8,800 hectares, Taegye islet, 68-km long dikes across the sea off Haeju connecting Kumhak, Chongdan county and Ryongmae islet to create new areas of agricultural use covering 2,500 hectares, 5,200 hectares in Kangryong, 3,300 hectares in Kumsong, 3,200 hectares in Unryul, 2,600 hectares in Kwaksan and 1,000 hectares in Chongsu islet. The lands thus won from the sea are equivalent to the total arable land of five counties.