Beijing vice minister-level meeting
Pyongyang, July 3 (KCNA) -- Chief councilor of the cabinet of the DPRK Pak Yong Su who is heading the northern delegation to the north-south vice minister-level meeting called a press conference at Beijing "China World" Hotel this afternoon, following his exclusive contact with his South Korean counterpart.
First of all, he told reporters about the background and purport of the vice minister-level meeting. He said that the north side had approached the meeting with sincerity from the beginning with an aim to open the door for dialogue and negotiations between the north and the south and settle pending issues of mutual concern including the issue of separated families.
He went on to say: The meeting that began on June 22 has undergone turns and twists since the beginning and is now in danger of rupture. This is entirely because of the south side's attitude. In and outside the meeting, the south side has violated the agreement of both sides and perpetrated artificial and premeditated provocations to block progress at the meeting.
The south side raised artificial conditions for the delivery of fertilizer pursuant to the June 3 agreement. Under the agreement, the south side was obliged to provide the north with 200,000 tons of fertilizer by July and, at the same time, to discuss the issue of separated families and other pending issues of mutual concern. The two issues are not restricted by each other.
The agreement stipulates that the issue of separated families will be discussed first. The agreement does not stipulate that the remaining 100,000 tons of fertilizer shall be delivered only when any tangible success is made in the discussion of the issue of separated families.
Before beginning the discussion of the issue of separated families, the south side raised some tangible success as a precondition. This was a sheer arbitrariness, a unilateral violation of the agreement and an artificial barrier to progress at the meeting.
Its position and attitude toward the meeting were made clearer when it caused a conflict on the West Sea of Korea through armed provocation and viciously slandered the dialogue partner by manipulating a lunatic. The south side provoked the west sea incident just before the meeting and aggravated the situation and manipulated a lunatic it had kept in a secret house to slander the north. This was a trick to turn the meeting into a place of dispute and bring the meeting to a complete rupture.
We called the south side to task and demanded it make an apology. The south side, far from accepting our demand, behaved more arrogantly and did not make any responsible reply. How much the south side dislikes the meeting is illustrated by the fact that it has made a fuss in and outside the meeting over unessential matters that have little to do with progress at the meeting.
At the beginning of the meeting, the south side complained that the north did not report the June 3 agreement of both sides and did not inform the south side of the list of the northern delegates. This is an unreasonable sophism. At the June 3 agreement, the two sides did not agree on any joint report. There was no agreement on the exchange of the lists of delegates. The south side delayed the transport of the first batch of fertilizer. That was why the north could not the south side of the list of delegates.
Although the south side tried from the beginning to bring the meeting to a rupture, we raised a new positive proposal in order to keep alive the hard-won meeting and save the situation. We also proposed to hold the fourth meeting and begin the discussion of the issue of separated families the day when the first shipment of the remaining fertilizer amounting to 100,000 tons was started.
The south side did not accept this proposal. The south side, ignoring our repeated demands and reasonable proposals, withdrew to Seoul unilaterally. This means they escaped from the meeting. The head of the northern delegation strongly warned that the south side should hold responsibility before the nation for having unilaterally withdrawn from the hard-won north-south vice minister-level meeting despite our sincere effort.
He added: We will meet with the south side again and discuss the agenda item the day when the first shipment of fertilizer was started after the south side sincerely approaches our constructive proposals and deeply repents of its wrong attitude.
He gave answers to questions put by reporters.
Cambodian King to visit DPRK
Pyongyang, July 4 (KCNA) -- His Majesty Norodom Sihanouk, King of the Kingdom of Cambodia, will soon pay an official goodwill visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea at the invitation of Kim Yong Nam, President of the presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK.
National photo exhibition opens
Pyongyang, July 4 (KCNA) -- A national photo exhibition opened at the People's Palace of Culture Saturday with due ceremony with the approach of the 5th anniversary of the passing away of the President Kim Il Sung. On display at the exhibition hall were more than 180 photos including those showing undying revolutionary feats of President Kim Il Sung and energetic revolutionary activities of General Secretary Kim Jong Il.
Among them were "the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung announcing the political programme at the first session of the Supreme People's Assembly of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," "the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung waving to the enthusiastic cheers of the young builders of the Kanggye Youth Power Station" and other photos showing revolutionary exploits performed by him in party hand state building and his noble popular traits.
"The great leader comrade Kim Jong Il directing the work to build the Kumsusan Memorial Palace into the sacred temple of Juche", "the respected Supreme Commander comrade Kim Jong Il visiting the forward command post of a combined unit" and other photos showing his tireless leadership feats and noble traits were exhibited.
Present at the opening ceremony were Kim Ki Nam, secretary of the Central Committee of the Worker's Party of Korea, officials concerned and working people in the city.
Provocateurs warned to pay high price
Pyongyang, July 4 (KCNA) -- A revenge-vowing meeting of the students of Kim Chaek University of Technology took place on Saturday. Speakers said that since June 4 the South Korean authorities have infiltrated battleships into the north side's territorial waters, threatening peaceful fishing boats of the north and obstructing naval vessels of the Korean People's Army from performing a self-defensive patrol duty and are still ceaselessly committing provocations.
The touch-and-go situation has been created on the Korean peninsula due to the reckless provocations committed by the South Korean authorities at the instigation of the U.S., they noted, and denounced the aggressors, provocateurs, for trying to put into practice a second war scenario at any cost to obliterate socialist Korea.
The enemy mistakes the DPRK and its army and misjudges the situation, they said, stressing: The Korean people and people's army equipped with powerful modern offensive and defensive means will never tolerate the provocative moves of the South Korean ruling quarters.
Greetings to governments of CARICOM
Pyongyang, July 4 (KCNA) -- Hong Song Mam, premier of the cabinet of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, sent a message of greetings to the 20th conference of heads of government of the CARICOM. The message highly estimated all the efforts made by the CARICOM to strengthen regional cooperation and achieve common development and prosperity in the past 20 odd years.
The CARICOM to protect the banana export and ecological environment in the Caribbean Sea and oppose shipping of nuclear waste materials through the Caribbean are affirmatively conducive to defending the common rights@and interests of the countries in this region and ensuring peace and security in the Caribbean region and the rest of the world, it said, and went on: The tragedy of the nation's division continues and a touch-and-go situation has been created the Korean peninsula. This is entirely due to the U.S. forces' occupation of South Korea and the persistent anti-reunification confrontation policy of the South Korean authorities.
It is the best way of preventing the danger of war and guaranteeing a durable peace and security on the Korean peninsula to reunify the country in accordance with the three charters of national reunification the keynote of which is the three principles of independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity, the ten-point programme of the great unity of the whole nation and the proposal for founding the Democratic Confederal Republic of Koryo, which were advanced by the President Kim Il Sung.
The message expressed the belief that the participants in the conference would voice support for and solidarity with the DPRK government's just principles and ways of national reunification. It also expressed the belief that friendly and cooperative relations between the DPRK and all the CARICOM member nations would in the future, too, continue strengthening and developing.
Open questionnaire to South Korean chief executive
Pyongyang, July 4 (KCNA) -- The south headquarters of the National Alliance for the Country's Reunification (Pomminryon) published an open questionnaire to the present chief executive of South Korea on June in connection with@the fact that the South Korean authorities triggered an armed conflict on the west sea, aggravating the situation.
Asking what is the truth of the incident, the open questionnaire points out: Public opinion says that the "government", which has given spurs to the preparations for a war on the Korean peninsula in league with the U.S. and Japan while seeking a pretext to justify it, is attempting to ignite a war while putting the "operation plan 5027-98" into practice with the armed conflict as an occasion.
The "incident of armed conflict on the west sea" is creating the confrontation and tension between the north and south. The unreasonableness of the assertion that waters around "northern limit line" belong to South Korea and the north invaded it has been brought to light.
The people think that the incident was a deliberate and reckless operation directed by "Chongwadae" calling for "tough countermeasure" and commanded by the "Minister of National Defence."
The U.S. forces were shipped into South Korea soon after the incident and the authorities are raising a hue and cry over the north's "planned missile launch," the questionnaire noted, adding: This is an intention to aggravate the tension and persistently start a war.
They have sold Tok Islet and the Sea to Japan, a criminal state which inflicted bitter sufferings upon the Korean nation through colonial rule and is now putting into practice a plan for a war on the Korean peninsula, and are seeking to unleash a war against the fellow countrymen. This is the treason against the nation, it stressed.
Japan's move for resurgence of militarism assailed
Pyongyang, July 4 (KCNA) -- Minju Joson in a commentary today lashes out at the Japanese reactionaries for their recent move to legalize "Hinomaru" and "Kimigayo" as Japan's national flag and national anthem and for their insistence on giving more detailed explanation of them in school textbooks.
This eloquently shows that the Japanese reactionaries' move for resurgence of militarism aimed at overseas aggression has reached a dangerous phase, the commentary observes. It continues: The Japanese reactionaries are scheming to rush headlong along the road of overseas aggression by drumming the militarist idea into the Japanese people through "Hinomaru" and "Kimigayo", thus turning the Japanese society into a right-wing one.
The Japanese authorities have always considered overseas expansion to be a supreme national policy. With the adoption of the legislation on the "Japan-U.S. Defence Cooperation Guidelines," Japan has been able to have the right of belligerency and the right to participate in a war and the scope of military operation of the "Self-Defence Forces" has expanded considerably.
Considering nuclear armament to be a "most ideal guarantee" for materializing the old dream of "Greater East Asia Coprosperity Sphere," Japan has long stepped ahead with it. Japan has a serious miscalculation. Militarism had already been negated and entombed by history. The nuclear weapons will not provide any guarantee for Japan's prosperity. Resurgence of militarism will leas Japan to self-destruction.
Dangerous scheme for new war exposed
Pyongyang, July 4 (KCNA) -- Former U.S. under secretary of state Arnold Kanter said, in a recent interview with Asahi Shimbun, it was wrong to think that there was no ground for choosing military actions against the DPRK. His argument represents the blackest scheme of the U.S. war hawks to extremely aggravate the situation of the Korean peninsula and unleash a second Korean war, Rodong Sinmun says in a commentary today.
The news analyst further says: In their anti-DPRK war scenario, the U.S. imperialists have entered a full-scale phase of practice from the phase of preparations. This war plan was finally examined and perfected and huge amount of military equipment and supplies have been amassed in and around South Korea. What has yet to be done is to ignite a new war.
So they are instigating South Korea clash with us in the West Sea of Korea, in an attempt to provoke this second Korean war. Under the operational plan for provoking the war, the U.S. war hawks are continuously reinforcing the U.S. troops present in South Korea and Japan while intensifying joint military exercises between the U.S. forces and the South Korean Army, between the U.S. forces and Japan's "Self-Defence Forces," and between the South Korean Army and Japan's "SDF".
The strategic intention of the U.S. is to make a surprise attack on the DPRK with all task forces based in the U.S. mainland and Asia-pacific region.If they persistently impose a war upon us, we will annihilate them more mercilessly than in the last Korean War.
Publication anniversary of July 4 joint statement observed
Pyongyang, July 4 (KCNA) -- Papers here today dedicate by-lined articles to the 27th anniversary of the publication of the July 4 joint statement the keynote of which is the three principles of national reunification.
Rodong Sinmun in an article describes the publication of the statement as a brilliant fruition of the outstanding and seasoned leadership of the President Kim Il Sung over the cause of national reunification.
With the publication of the statement, the three principles of national reunification -- independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity -- were recognized as the nation's common principle for reunification and an undying reunification programme which the north and the south jointly confirmed and solemnly proclaimed at home and abroad, the article says, and continues: The three principles are a reunification charter common to the entire Korean people that consummates their desire and will for reunification.
Therefore, the principles serve as a basis and a starting point for settling the reunification issue in accordance with the will and interest of the nation. Korea's reunification should be achieved on the basis of the three principles no matter how the situation may change in the future.
It is an unshakable will and consistent principled stand of the worker's party and the people of Korea to achieve the national reunification by adhering to and thoroughly applying the principles. The South Korean authorities should not go against the nation's grand march for reunification, but take a correct viewpoint and stand towards the principles and take a policy switchover towards settling both the inter-Korean relations and reunification issue on the basis of them.
A Minju Joson article says whether the three principles are implemented or not rests entirely with the South Korean authorities. They should refrain from calling for such a sophism as "engagement with the north", take the principles as a principle of activities for national reunification and a cardinal one in their policy towards the north and carry on all activities on the basis of them, it stresses.