All electors turn out
Pyongyang, March 7 (KCNA) -- The elections of deputies to provincial (municipal), city (district) and county people's assemblies of the DPRK had successfully concluded. Electors across the country turned out in the elections with the pride and consciousness of being masters of the country and with determination to further strengthen the revolutionary government and defend and add luster to Korean socialism centred on the masses of the people.
The elections were held at constituencies and sub-constituency across the country, strictly by the DPRK law on elections of deputies to people's assemblies at all levels. According to data available at the Central Election Committee, all the registered voters except those who are abroad or on ocean took part in the elections. Mobile ballot boxes were used for the aged and the handicapped. Through the elections, the voters powerfully demonstrated once again their deep trust in their revolutionary government and the invincible might and vitality of Korean socialism in which the leader, the party and the masses have become a harmonious whole.
Senior party and state officials take part
Pyongyang, March 7 (KCNA) -- Leading officials of the party and the state of the DPRK joined voters in casting ballots for candidates for deputies to provincial (municipal), city (district) and county people's assemblies at different polling stations.
Kim Yong Nam voted for Ri Sung Gyu and Jon Se In, room chiefs of the Academy of Sciences, Ri Jong Ok for Kang Hyon Su, chief secretary of the Pyongyang City Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, and Kang Nae Gun, sub-work-team leader of the Mangyongdae branch of the Mangyongdae District State Farm, Pak Song Chol for Ri Jae Suk and Kim Chon Guk, workshop leaders of the Mangyongdae Machine-Tool Factory, Kim Yong Ju for Jo Hwa Yon, rector of the Pyongyang City Baby Home, and Kim Chun Hwan, work-team leader of Taesong Co-op Farm, Jo Myong Rok for Ryu Hyong Yon, general of the Korean People's Army (KPA), Hong Song Nam for Choe Kun Hyong, director of the south Phyongan provincial security bureau, and Kim Jin Su, workshop leader of the Namhung Youth Chemical Complex. Ri Ul Sol for Ri Kuk Nam, KPA general, Kim Yong Chun for Jang In Chan, KPA general, Ri Yong Mu for general of the KPA Kim Rin Do, Kim Il Chol for Sin Yong Bok, KPA officer, Jon Pyong Ho for designer Jo Kwang Hyon and rolling-mill worker Kim Chun Sop of the Songjin Steel Complex, Kye Ung Thae for Kim Tong Gun, department director of the Pyongyang City People's Committee, and Paek Yong Chol, worker of the Kim Jong Thae General Electric Locomotive Works, and Han Song Ryong for Choe Hye Ryun, workshop leader of the Hwanghae Iron and Steel Complex, and Kim Kyong Jae, deputy head of the fuel institute of the Academy of Sciences.
Besides, other senior party, state and army officials voted for candidates from all walks of life including workers, farmers and working intellectuals.
First Kimilsungia show to open in Pyongyang
Pyongyang, March 7 (KCNA) -- The Kimilsungia show will open from this year on the occasion of Sun's Day (April 15), the birthday of the President Kim Il Sung. The show will be held in Pyongyang over April 10-17, Juche 88 (1999) under the sponsorship of the Kimjongilia Federation of the DPRK. Kimilsungia was raised by a botanist of Indonesia in Juche 54 (1965), 34 years ago.
The show will be attended by individuals and units that cultivate the immortal flower Kimilsungia. It, together with the Kimjongilia show, will record a new chapter in the history of the world flower exhibition and contribute to making the spring holiday of April significant and peculiar. At the show, the participants will exchange successes and experience gained in cultivation and propagation of Kimilsungia.
S. Korean people's anti-U.S. demonstration supported
Pyongyang, March 7 (KCNA) -- Rodong Sinmun today in a commentary says the recent anti-U.S. demonstration staged by students and other patriotic people in Pusan of South Korea demanding the withdrawal of the U.S. troops from South Korea is an eruption of the pent-up curse and resentment at the U.S., the colonial ruler.
It is none other than the U.S. which cooked up the cruel military dictatorial regime and then "civilian government" and "government for the people" and has enforced an unprecedentedly harsh colonial rule through them and imposed the trusteeship of the International Monetary Fund upon the South Korean people, the commentary notes, and goes on: It is entirely justifiable for the South Korean people, the victims of the U.S. imposed sufferings and misfortunes, to have risen up in the anti-U.S. demonstration.
To wage an anti-U.S. struggle for independence as a nationwide movement to regain the usurped national dignity and sovereignty is the only way out for the South Korean people. The U.S. had better withdraw their aggression forces from South Korea of their own accord before being wiped out by the angry South Korean people.
Defector on S. Korean chief executive's remarks
Pyongyang, March 7 (KCNA) -- Yun Song Sik, a South Korean defector to the north, branded the "achievements" advertised by the South Korean chief executive in his recent "dialogue with the people" and "press conference" as a mockery of the people and a sheer lie. Yun made the remark in his interview with KCNA on Saturday a year after the emergence of the "people's government" in South Korea. He told KCNA: Over the last year, the "people's government" has further turned South Korea into a plaything of outsiders and a land with bankrupt economy through dependence on outsiders and sycophantic, treacherous policy.
South Koreans are in despair with no hope though they stay alive, due to distress in living, poverty, distorted moral structure, plunder by comprador capital, bankruptcy of businesses in depression and massive unemployment. The present ruler is a heinous pro-American, pro-Japanese flunkeyist and traitor who kowtows to outsiders for the maintenance of his regime and personal comfort, while remaining indifferent to the interests and welfare of the people. For instance, he claimed that his "victory in Presidential Election" also means "victory of the United States."
National independence and reunification are the only way out for the South Korean people. The chief executive of South Korea should reject dependence on the United States and Japan and take the line of national independence, before it is too late. He should have the spirit of national independence and stop all political disputes that encourage distrust and confrontation among fellow countrymen. He should immediately abolish the anti-reunification "National Security Law" which defines fellow countrymen as "enemy." He should also take the road of terminating the foreigners imposed tragic division of more than half a century and reunifying the country at an early date.
Powerful weapon for building of powerful nation
Pyongyang, March 7 (KCNA) -- The people's government of DPRK is creditably discharging its mission as a powerful weapon for the building of a powerful state, says Rodong Sinmun today in a signed article. The government is a powerful weapon for firmly consolidating the political and ideological position of Korean socialism and bringing about a new upswing in socialist economic construction and cultural development, the paper notes, and says: It reliably defends the gains of the revolution and the people's happiness from the imperialists and other reactionaries.
It also repulses the tendencies toward "reform" and "opening" and guides the state administration, economic management and all other spheres of social life as required by socialism and on the principle of socialism so as to play a big role in helping the people deeply grasp the advantages of socialism through practice. The people's government does all it can to improve the people's material and cultural life in a responsible manner. There is no change in the state's popular policies, though hard pressed for everything.
The government invariably pursues popular policies such as free and compulsory education and free medical care so that the people can enjoy great benefits from the state. The government also steps up economic construction and cultural development in order to provide the people with conditions for an affluent and highly civilized life.
Preparatory committee formed in Mongolia
Pyongyang, March 7 (KCNA) -- The Federation of Peace and Friendship Organizations of Mongolia held a meeting on Thursday to inaugurate the Mongolian preparatory committee for commemorating Sun's Day on the occasion of the 87th birth anniversary of the President Kim Il Sung.
At the meeting the chairman of the Mongolia-Korea Friendship Association said in his speech that the greatest of the respected President Kim Il Sung's exploits was that he successfully solved the issue of succession to the revolutionary cause. The President is always alive not only in the hearts of the Korean people but in the hearts of the Mongolian and world peoples as well, he stressed. A program for commemorating Sun's Day was adopted at the meeting.
Japanese reactionaries should not run amok
Pyongyang, March 7 (KCNA) -- Rodong Sinmun today warns the Japanese reactionaries against running amok, commenting on their hastened "legislative arrangement for emergency" to make a "preemptive attack" on the plea of the DPRK "missile launch." The news analyst says: The Japanese reactionaries are seeking to round off the legislation needed for a war of aggression by building up public opinion as if the security of Japan was greatly threatened by the DPRK.
At the same time, they are about to step up their scheme to become a military giant and nuclear armament. The establishment of a "Theatre Missile Defence" system and the introduction of military satellites on their lips are aimed at completing their preparations for overseas aggression. Now that they are going to pounce upon us, we cannot sit idle with arms crossed.
If they dare to undertake a preemptive attack on the pretext of our "missile threat," our people and People's Army will wipe them out to the last man. We are militarily prepared to deal a merciless retaliatory blow to the aggression forces of Japan.
Papers call for consolidating socialist government
Pyongyang, March 7 (KCNA) -- Papers here today editorially call on the working people to turn out as one in the provincial, city and county people's assembly elections today and vote for the candidates so as to consolidate the revolutionary government.
Papers say: The local assembly elections are held for the first time after the Kim Il Sung constitution was adopted. The elections will mark an important occasion in strengthening the revolutionary system of state structure reorganized to successfully carry out the ideology and politics of the great leader Kim Jong Il, who was elected to the supreme post of the state at the first session of the 10th Supreme People's Assembly last year. The local assembly elections today carry weighty importance in strictly applying Kim Jong Il's politics and speeding up the effort for final victory in the Juche revolution.
The elections are a worthwhile event to fully demonstrate the advantages of Korean socialism centred on the people and an important occasion in displaying our unbreakable wholehearted unity. When the local assemblies are made up of faithful servants who are intensely loyal to the party and the leader and have the spirit of devoted service for the country and the people through the elections, this will give a new impetus to the Korean people's effort to build a powerful nation.
Minju Joson describes the elections as an important occasion in strengthening the people's government organs in every way and enhancing their function and role so that the Korean people can speed up their general march toward the building of a powerful nation.