SPA presidium President meets S. Korean visitors
Pyongyang, October 29 (KCNA) -- Kim Yong Nam, President of the presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, on Wednesday received and talked with visiting Honorary Chairman of the Hyundai Business Group of South Korea Jong Ju Yong and his entourage at the Mansudae Assembly Hall in a cordial atmosphere overflowing with compatriotic feelings for the first time since he took office.
Present at the meeting were vice-chairman of the Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee Song Ho Gyong and officials concerned.
At the meeting, Kim Yong Nam welcomed the Pyongyang visit of Jong Ju Yong and his entourage. Nongovernmental cooperation between the north and the south in various fields under the ideal of reunification and great unity of the nation is good, he said.
"Tourism of Mt. Kumgang proceeds from our warm compatriotic feelings. We have taken into account the South Korean people's desire to see the world-famous mountain," he said, hoping that it would become not merely a tourism but a noble work conducive to national reconciliation, unity and reunification.
The DPRK government, he continued, will pay deep attention to nongovernmental economic cooperation between the Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee and the Hyundai Business Group of South Korea in various fields including the tourism of Mt. Kumgang so that it can proceed well.
Honorary Chairman Jong Ju Yong and chairman Jong Mong Hon of the Hyundai Business Group expressed thanks to Kim Yong Nam for his kind meeting with them. They told him they would successfully conduct nongovernmental cooperation between the north and the south in various fields including the tourism of Mt. Kumgang so that the cooperation may be a big stride toward national reunification.
Anniversary of Korea-Romania diplomatic relations marked
Pyongyang, October 29 (KCNA) -- Romanian charge d'affaires to Korea Neculai Cotlogut gave a cocktail party at the embassy on Tuesday to mark the 50th anniversary of the opening of diplomatic relations between Korea and Romania.
Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Ri In Gyu and officials concerned were invited to the party, at which speeches were exchanged.
Jong Ju Yong and his party see art performance
Pyongyang, October 29 (KCNA) -- Jong Ju Yong, Honorary Chairman of Hyundai Business Group of South Korea, and his party appreciated a music and dance performance at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre on Wednesday.
Seeing the performance were Song Ho Gyong, vice-chairman of the Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, Jong Un Op, chairman of the National Economic Cooperation Federation, officials concerned and citizens.
The art performance carrying ardent patriotism and strong national sentiment left a deep impression on spectators.
Sojourn of Hanchongryon delegates
Pyongyang, October 29 (KCNA) -- Kim Tae Won and Hwang Son, delegates of the South Korean Federation of University Student Councils (Hanchongryon) which represents the south headquarters of the National Alliance of Youth and Students for the Country's Reunification, visited Pyongyang University of Music and Dance on Wednesday.
After being briefed on the history of the university, the delegates appreciated an art performance of its students.
They, too, danced on the stage, singing songs of struggle which they used to sing in the south.
They said they will always stand in the van of the sacred struggle for national reunification, cherishing the inspiring songs sung by fellow students of the university.
On the same day, the Hanchongryon delegates had a meeting with students of the foreign studies faculty of Joson University under the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, who are staying in the socialist homeland.
Joson University students said they would always be with one million fellow students of Hanchongryon fighting with an unshakable faith.
Kim and Hwang praised them for their vigorous struggle in Japan to defend the national identity and achieve the reunification of the country.
Hanchongryon is not alone as it is always with youth and students in the north and overseas fighting for reunification, the unanimous desire of the 70 million fellow countrymen, they said.
Earlier, the Hanchongryon delegates met with students of the Political Economy Faculty of Joson University and members of a home-visiting group of Korean students in Japan, who are staying in the socialist homeland.
U.S.-S. Korea war moves denounced
Pyongyang, October 29 (KCNA) -- People of different social strata in North Korea have condemned the U.S. and the South Korean authorities for their large-scale joint war exercises.
Young builders and employees of the fourth brigade of the speed campaign youth shock force, the Munsu, Pyongyang, Tramcar Station, the Pyongyang Daesong Export Garment Factory and the Saenal Electric Appliance Factory met on the spot on Oct.27 and 28.
Speakers at the meetings denounced the on-going manoeuvres as a rash act of completing war preparations at the final stage and of trying to ignite a new war at any cost and as an open challenge to and a provocation against the DPRK.
The U.S. and the South Korean authorities should not run amuck, drawing a lesson from the miserable fate of their predecessors who were trying to encroach upon the dignity of the DPRK and of the dictators who were engaging themselves in confrontation with the fellow countrymen, with backing of outsiders, they warned.
They held that the Japanese authorities should ponder over catastrophic consequences arising from their participation in new war provocative moves of the U.S. and the South Korean authorities and act with discretion, looking squarely at the realities.
Actual war exercises in S. Korea
Pyongyang, October 29 (KCNA) -- The South Korean warmaniacs on Tuesday called out the 31st division of the army to stage a military exercise reminiscent of an actual war in "emergency," according to a radio report from Seoul.
The exercise was part of the ongoing criminal "'98 Hwarang" war game.
The warmaniacs are now hellbent on more frantic large-scale war exercises against the north.
S. Korean authorities denounced for opening doors to Japanese culture
Pyongyang, October 29 (KCNA) -- Rodong Sinmun today comes out with a signed commentary on the decision of the South Korean authorities to totally lift a ban on import of Japanese culture and allow the introduction of Japanese films, video tapes and cartoons into South Korea.
The analyst of the paper says:
The present chief executive of South Korea is fawning upon Japan, even adopting a "policy" to open doors to Japanese culture, which the preceding rulers dared not do.
His misdeed is a revelation of his criminal design to gratify his sinister political ambition and enjoy an easy and comfortable life by currying favour with the U.S. and Japanese masters in reward for turning South Korea into a dark land in which the Japanese way of life and the western style are prevalent and the national identity is eradicated.
This shows that the South Korean authorities are not in the least interested in the dignity and interests of the country and nation.
The nation will certainly keep tabs on their unheard-of crimes and make them pay dearly for them.
Farewell service for late official of Chongryon
Tokyo, October 27 (KNS-KCNA) -- A ceremony of bidding farewell to the late Ra Hun was held here in Tokyo on Tuesday on the sponsorship of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon).
Ra Hun, vice-chairman of the Chiba branch of the Chongryon Chiba Prefecture headquarters, was cruelly murdered by reactionaries who have anti-Korean sentiments.
General Secretary Kim Jong Il felt very regretful at the sad news of his death and saw to it that national flag order first class and a certificate of patriotic martyr were awarded to him.
Attending the ceremony were first vice-chairman of the Chongryon Central Standing Committee So Man Sul, other officials of Chongryon and Korean residents in Japan.
Also present were members of the "committee for investigation into the case of murder and arson against a Korean Chongryon official in Chiba", which consists of Japanese public figures.
Introduced there were messages of condolence from the Central Committees of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland, the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League and the Korean Democratic Women's Union, the Korean Committee for Aiding Overseas Koreans and the Joguk Company.
Vice-chairman of Chongryon Kwon Sun Hwi, who is chairman of the funeral committee for vice-chairman Ra Hun, patriotic martyr, in a memorial address expressed the determination to resolutely smash the anti-DPRK, anti-Chongryon moves of the reactionaries within and without and firmly defend and develop the patriotic organization which Ra had safeguarded at the cost of his life.
International Friendship Exhibition
Pyongyang, October 29 (KCNA) -- The International Friendship Exhibition situated in Mt. Myohyang, a famous mountain of Korea, is called a treasure-house praising great men.
Preserved and displayed there are hundreds of thousands of gifts to the President Kim Il Sung and General Secretary Kim Jong Il from over 170 countries.
They include handicrafts such as gold and silver works, valuables, silk banners and congratulatory messages.
More than 43,800 gifts to Kim Jong Il are on display at a newly expanded exhibition (exhibition of gifts to Kim Jong Il).
They show how absolutely and ardently the world people trust, worship, respect and praise him.
The exhibition consists of an observatory and display halls.
Eaves and walls of the observatory on granite wall-blocks are adorned with Kimilsungia, Kimjongilia, Magnolia and Azalea, while its pillars have paintings of tigers of Mt. Paektu and ceilings are adorned with cranes flying skyward with red flowers in their beaks.
The front gate engraved with Kimjongilia is made of copper. One side of the door weighs 4.5 tons.
When you go into the entrance, you can see a corridor to a hall, a round-shape hall and a general review room all of which are covered with marble.
There are circular marble steps in the hall, and chandeliers of square pattern and sunflower and moon shapes are hung on ceilings of the round-shape hall and the corridor.
Both walls of the corridor are decorated with graphic paintings depicting Lake Chon atop Mt. Paektu, Jongil Peak, Lake Samji and trees with slogans in Sobaeksu.
A plaster bust of General Secretary Kim Jong Il stands in the general review room. Gifts are on display in tens of halls in the order of countries, continents and chronicles.
The exhibition will hand down his revolutionary history and exploits to posterity.
Investigation into national education discrimination and corrective step called for
Tokyo, October 27 (KNS-KCNA) -- The Japanese authorities refuse to acknowledge qualifications of graduates from Koreans schools in Japan for state-run university enterance examination, seeking national discrimination in providing schools with educational expenses.
Chairman Jo Yong Bok of the Association of Koreans in Japan on Human Rights and other delegates of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) on October 23 presented to the UN Commission on Human Rights a letter of request calling for an investigation into discrimination and taking a corrective step.
The delegates asked the UN Commission on Human Rights to consider the discriminative treatment as serious encroachment upon human rights and take a corrective step, saying that the discrimination policy of the Japanese government is contrary to the international convention on human rights and the "treaty of children's rights."
"Yonryosilgisul"
Pyongyang, October 29 (KCNA) -- Korea has many cultural relics of great significance in the study of history and culture.
A collection of history books "Yonryosilgisul" is one of them.
This collection deals systematically with a 300-year-long history of the feudal state of the Ri dynasty which lasted over 500 years.
Written in the collection were pedigrees of feudal rulers from the first king of the Ri dynasty to the 19th King Sukjong and important events which occurred when each king governed. Also carried in the collection were biographies of feudal bureaucrats including ministers, prominent statesmen and scholars.
The book is divided into three parts.
The first part is composed of 33 volumes. It carries 328 major articles and biographies of over 870 persons from the end of the 14th century to the mid-17th century.
The second part, composed of 7 volumes of over 40 titles, covers the period from the end of the 17th century to the beginning of the 18th century.
The third part (19 volumes) carries over 210 items on politics, economy, military, culture and other domains.
The collection is the best of history books about the Ri dynasty as it specifically contains most of historical events and objectively deals with the history of the dynasty.
It shows that historical science in middle ages was highly developed.
Its author Ri Kum Ik (1734-1806) named the collection "Yonryosilgisul".
He was a historician of the 18th century who devoted his whole life to the study of history.
Madagascan President on victory of socialist Korea
Pyongyang, October 29 (KCNA) -- Socialist Korea of Juche will surely win a victory, Madagascan President Didier Ratsiraka said when receiving credentials from newly-appointed DPRK ambassador Ri Yong Hak.
The President said Korea is the sun's country led by a great leader, a great sun. "I see the bright future of Korea which will prosper under the leadership of the great Kim Jong Il," he stressed.
"I hope," he said, "that the reunification of the country, the cherished desire of all the Korean people, will be achieved independently and peacefully by means of confederacy based on one nation, one state, two systems and two governments, for their happiness and prosperity."
Jong Ju Yong and his party sees mass gymnastic display
Pyongyang, October 29 (KCNA) -- Honorary Chairman Jong Ju Yong of the Hyundai Business Group of South Korea and his party today appreciated a mass gymnastic display "Kim Il Sung's Korea in glory" performed by 50,000 students and schoolchildren in Pyongyang at the Kim Il Sung Stadium.
Also seeing together with working people in the city were chairman Kim Yong Sun and vice-chairman Song Ho Gyong of the Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, chairman Jong Un Op of the National Economic Cooperation Federation and officials concerned.
The mass gymnastic display excellently represented in a grand epic canvas of sports art the undying revolutionary exploits the President Kim Il Sung performed for the Country and Nation by founding the DPRK and turning it into a powerful socialist country, independent in politics, self-supporting in the economy and self-reliant in national defence.
The performers fully demonstrated the unbreakable spirit and will of the Korean people to more devotedly fight for the independent, peaceful reunification of the country and global independence, upholding the wise guidance of General Secretary Kim Jong Il, who is making a new history of the building of a powerful and thriving country.
For its high ideological and artistic value, sports skills, organisation and discipline the mass gymnastic display was fully acclaimed by the spectators, whenever it displayed mysterious and fascinating scenes.
On Wednesday, President Kim Yong Nam of the presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK met and talked with Honorary Chairman Jong Ju Yong of the Hyundai Business Group of South Korea and his party in a cordial atmosphere overflowing with compatriotic feelings.