Tajikistan-DPRK Friendship Association formed

Pyongyang, November 1 (KCNA) -- A meeting was held at the building of the Tajik Council for Friendly and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries on October 26 to inaugurate the Tajikistan-DPRK Friendship Association. Member of parliament Abdulayev Abdulhamid was elected chairman of the association. Rules of the association were adopted at the meeting.

Books praising Kim Jong Il released in Lebanon

Pyongyang, November 1 (KCNA) -- A ceremony of publishing books "Kim Jong Il, leader of Korea" and "Biography of Kim Jong Il" and a collection of poems "50 years of victory and glory" was held in Lebanon on October 25 under the cosponsorship of Syrian and Lebanese men of culture and art. Present at the ceremony were politburo member of the Socialist Unionist Party of Syria Riyad Suleiman Iwad and the General Secretary of the Lebanese Union of Artistes and poets, writers, artistes, journalists and teachers of the two countries. The participants stressed that those excellent books show the outstanding leadership traits and the enduring feats of the President Kim Il Sung and General Secretary Kim Jong Il.

Japanese authorities' anti-DPRK campaign condemned

Pyongyang, November 1 (KCNA) -- A meeting was held by the Bulgarian Group for the Study of the Juche Idea on October 23 to condemn the Japanese authorities' hostility towards the DPRK which is getting all the more undisguised after the DPRK's launch of an artificial satellite. Speakers there said that when the world has recognized the DPRK's artificial satellite is moving round the earth, only Japan claims that it was a ballistic missile and calls for "strike on a missile base" in an attempt to slander the DPRK. Launching a satellite is a right of a sovereign and independent state and Korea's satellite is aimed at developing science and technology for a peaceful purpose, they said, strongly urging the Japanese authorities to stop hostile acts towards the DPRK at once.

S. Korea suffers great loss from treacherous "fisheries pact"

Pyongyang, November 1 (KCNA) -- The treacherous "fisheries pact" the South Korean authorities concluded with Japan will cost South Korea 1,072.5 billion won a year, a radio report from Seoul said. Under the agreement, the South Korean fisheries are to suffer a loss of 372.7 billion won from the reduction in fish catch and 699.8 billion won from the operation suspension of sea products processing factories. The figures were made public by a "grand national lawmaker" at the agriculture, forestry and fisheries committee of the "national assembly."

S. Korean students' surprise demonstration in Seoul

Pyongyang, November 1 (KCNA) -- Students under the Seoul District Federation of University Student Councils (Sochongryon) of South Korea reportedly held a surprise demonstration in front of the American Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Seoul on October 23 to protest against the U.S. economic aggression on South Korea. The students burned the stars and stripes and scattered copies of literature flailing the U.S. imperialists' aggressive and plunders crimes, chanting "Americans, go home." The copies of literature say "the United States is a wirepuller of the current economic crisis and a direct mastermind that has turned South Korea into a real colony". The students noted in the literature their struggle is targeted at the United States.

Floral basket laid before President Kim Il Sung's Statue

Pyongyang, November 1 (KCNA) -- Chief Pak Kwang Gi and officials of the Pyongyang mission of the National Democratic Front of South Korea (NDFSK) visited the Statue of the President Kim Il Sung on Mansue Hill on October 31 on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of its establishment. They laid a floral basket before his statue and made a bow, representing ardent yearning of South Korean people and boundless reverence of the vanguard fighters of the NDFSK for the President, the benevolent father of the nation and the founder of Juche Korea.

Anti-DPRK, anti-Chongryon moves denounced in Korea

Pyongyang, November 1 (KCNA) -- A Nampho mass meeting was held on October 31 to denounce the Japanese reactionaries for conducting frantic rackets against the DPRK and the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon). Speeches were made there. The speakers said: At present, the Japanese diet, government and ruling party have called out security authorities, press media and even rightwing gangsters for vicious provocative acts and outrageous repressive operations. These rackets are more frantic than the anti-DPRK, anti-Chongryon campaigns conducted by the Japanese reactionaries almost every day in the past. These tragic atrocities in Japan are a political campaign conducted on the prearranged script of the Japanese reactionaries who have tried to turn Japan into a fascist state and military power in a foolish attempt to attain the old dream of "greater east Asia coprosperity sphere." We vehemently denounce their fascist outrages as grave and vicious hostile acts infringing upon the dignity of our nation and the sovereignty of the DPRK and as the most wanton challenge to the international law and usage. They must act with discretion, mindful that if they persist in suppressing and harassing Chongryon and Koreans in Japan and enforcing the hostile policy against our republic, they will sustain irrevocable defeat and destruction.

Rigmarole of colonial stooge flailed

Pyongyang, November 1 (KCNA) -- The South Korean authorities are these days crying for setting up a "regional security mechanism" for "stability and development" in northeast Asia. Rodong Sinmun today, commenting on this, says: The South Korean authorities are no more than colonial with no political independence and sovereignty. For them to make such utterances is the height of impudence. The news analyst says: They are a detached force for world strategy of the U.S. imperialists who are trying to realise their design for domination over Asia and the world. They are now hell-bent on large-scale joint military manoeuvres in the East Sea of Korea together with their master, the U.S. They are posing grave threats to stability and peace in northeast Asia, including the Korean peninsula, towing the U.S. imperialist line. The establishment of a "regional security mechanism" on their lips goes only to betray the true colors of the colonial stooges as flunkeyists and traitors. They are watch dogs in a colony. They would be well-advised to stop making ridiculous utterances.

U.S. allegations prove groundless

Pyongyang, November 1 (KCNA) -- The U.S. conservative hard-liners still claim that the underground structure near Nyongbyon in North Korea is an "underground nuclear facility." Rodong Sinmun today describes their allegations as ridiculous and groundless. The news analyst says: Quinones, former official of the U.S. Department of State in charge of the DPRK issues, in his thesis on the "underground nuclear facility" said the fiction of the "underground nuclear facility" was made by "those who carry no weight" in the U.S. government and set afloat by mass media. He also recalled that during his visit to the Nyongbyon and Unsan areas he saw at first hand the site of "underground nuclear facility" detected by a U.S. intelligence satellite, adding that nearly all military installations and non-military factories in the DPRK are underground to cope with raids by U.S. air force planes in "emergency." Judging from this, the "underground nuclear facility" may be one of underground structures throughout the DPRK, he said. His statement represents his own view. He was an official in charge of Korean issues during the DPRK-U.S. high-level talks in New York in 1993 and the Geneva talks in 1994. He visited the DPRK several times from 1995 to 1997 during which he was a researcher in charge of issues of the DPRK at the northeast Asia section of the intelligence research bureau of the U.S. Department of State. Judging from this, no one can deny his viewpoint regarding the "underground nuclear facility" fiction. We will firmly defend and exercise our right to independence, come what may.

S. Korean air force ready for invasion of north

Pyongyang, November 1 (KCNA) -- The "people's government" of South Korea has put the air force into full preparedness for invasion of North Korea in collusion with its master, the U.S. imperialists, a Seoul-based radio said. The fact was made public in a "report on current situation" presented by the National Defence Committee of the national assembly to a "parliamentary" session now under way. According to the report, the puppet air force is intensifying large-scale drills for joint formation flight to beef up capabilities for performing joint operations with the U.S. air force. It is also intensifying exercises for assistance to ground and maritime forces and day-and-night precision bombing. All facts eloquently show that the "people's government" is frantically trying to keep the puppet ground, naval and air forces fully ready to unleash a war against the north.

Agreement between DPRK and Slovakia

Pyongyang, November 1 (KCNA) -- An agreement on encouragement and protection of investment between the governments of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Slovakia was signed in Bratislava on October 27. The agreement was inked on the Korean side by DPRK charge d'affaires ad interim to Slovakia Ri Pyong Gap and on the Slovak side by Tatiyana Silhankova, Secretary of State for the Slovak Ministry of Finance.

Joint meeting of Pomchonghakryon held

Pyongyang, November 1 (KCNA) -- A joint meeting of the National Alliance of Youth and Students for the Country's Reunification (Pomchonghakryon) was held here Saturday with a view to realizing the second joint excursion to historic sites in the north. Attending the meeting were chairman kim in ho of the north Pomchonghakryon headquarters, Kim Tae Won and Hwang Son, representatives of the South Korean Federation of University Student Councils (Hanchongryon) which represents the south Pomchonghakryon headquarters, Ri Jong Su and O Yong Chol, directors of the joint secretariat of the overseas Pomchonghakryon headquarters, members of the delegation of the overseas headquarters, chairmen of university student committees and youth and students in Pyongyang. Speeches were made at the meeting. The speakers noted they could confirm, through the first joint excursion and the joint seminar, that the Korean nation is Tangun's nation of the same blood with a 5,000-year-long history and how important it is to adhere to the independence of the nation. They said they could feel keenly that Koreans are undoubtedly brothers and sisters whose homogeneity is predominant to heterogeneity and they could get united, through meetings and gatherings with the fellow countrymen in the north as well as the joint excursion. Touching on the South Korean authorities' behaviour of having blocked the South Korean students' tour of the north, they said they would unfailingly realise the second excursion with the united might of Pomchonghakryon. A joint resolution of Pomchonghakryon was adopted at the meeting. The resolution suggests that the struggle for realizing the second joint excursion be synchronized with the struggle against the forces opposed to reunification so as to remove such institutions and devices as the "National Security Law", "Agency for National Security Planning" and "Ministry of National Unification". They stressed in the resolution that they would more firmly implant in the minds of the entire fellow countrymen hope for and confidence in reunification by realizing the second joint excursion next year at any cost.