Cambodian King pays tribute to President Kim Il Sung

   Pyongyang, July 7 (KCNA) -- Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk and his party visited the Kumsusan Memorial Palace on Tuesday to pay tribute to the President Kim Il Sung. Accompanying the guests were President Kim Yong Nam of the presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK, Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun and DPRK ambassador to Cambodia Kim Yong Sop.
    Flags of the Worker's Party of Korea and the DPRK and standards of the Korean People's Army were standing by both sides of the statue of the President. A guard of honor of the three services of the KPA lined up there. A floral basket in the name of the Cambodian King was laid before the statue of the President. Written on the ribbon hanging from the basket were letters "highest tribute to H.E. Generalissimo Kim Il Sung, President of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea".
    After expressing humble reverence before the President's statue, the King entered the hall where the President lies in state and made a bow to him in the most profound reverence. The King looked round with keen interest the orders and medals awarded to the President by foreign countries, the train used by him for his on-site guidance and foreign trip, and the car he used in the last days of his life.
    The King wrote in the visitor's book that Generalissimo Kim Il Sung, President of the DPRK, is the eternal sun of humankind, the vanguard fighter who waged a struggle against imperialism and colonialism and for progress and the great man who enjoyed high authority and prestige on the international arena.
    Great successes were made in the struggle for socialism and communism in this land where the Korean nation lives thanks to his brilliant wisdom and leadership, he said, and added: The Cambodian people will make positive efforts to achieve peace, progress and prosperity following the noble examples shown by him in the struggle for the national independence and the prosperity of the country.

Banquet given for Cambodian King

   Pyongyang, July 7 (KCNA) -- The presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK gave a banquet at the Mansudae assembly hall today in honor of H.M. Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia, on an official goodwill visit to Korea.
    Present on invitation were H.M. Queen, deputy prime minister in charge of the Royal Palace of Cambodia Kong Sam Ol, Minister of State of the Royal Government and Concurrently Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia Hor Namhong, Cambodian Ambassador E.P. to Korea Oum Mannorine and those accompanying the King.
    Present there were President Kim Yong Nam of the presidium of the SPA of the DPRK, Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun and personages concerned.Kim Yong Nam, addressing the banquet, said the current Korea visit of esteemed H.M. King Norodom Sihanouk stemmed from the noble sense of moral obligation to express his wholehearted respects to the great President Kim Il Sung who is preserved in state and share pains of the loss with the Korean people.
    In his lifetime President Kim Il Sung, he noted, set great store by the intimacy with esteemed H.M. King and always respected and supported H.M. King's independent stand on the Cambodian issue in either good time or hard time. Kim Il Sung gave material aid and moral support to the patriotic cause of the King until the last period of his great life, Kim Yong Nam said.
    Kim Yong Nam said esteemed H.M. King spoke highly of Kim Il Sung as an outstanding thinker and theoretician, a distinguished hero and the sun of humankind. He said: You established unbreakable relations of friendship with Kim Il Sung and received incalculable kindness from Kim Il Sung. You have regarded this as the greatest fortune and worked all along to discharge your obligation and duty as befits a real brother and a close comrade-in-arms.
    Whenever the opportunity presented itself, you expressed infinite respect and reverence for Kim Il Sung and the respected Marshal Kim Jong Il and supported the efforts of the Korean people to pull through difficulties, Kim Yong Nam said, expressing deep thanks for this.
    He highly praised H.M. King for having devotedly worked for terminating a civil war and paving the path of the nation as the father of the Khmer nation for a long time as well as for conducting energetic activities for unity and cohesion of the nation and territorial integrity.
    The Korean people treasure the amity with the Cambodian people that President Kim Il Sung worked together with H.M. King to provide and develop in his lifetime and will make every possible effort to expand and develop it in different fields, Kim Yong Nam added. H.M. King Norodom Sihanouk spoke next at the banquet.

Speech of King Norodom Sihanouk

   Pyongyang, July 7 (KCNA) -- His Majesty Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia, made a speech at the banquet given in his honor by the presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK at the Mansudae Assembly Hall today.He said among other things: My dearest and most fervent wish and that of queen Norodom Monineath Sihanouk these years have always been to visit Korea again to express our most profound respect, our veneration, our infinite gratitude and our boundless admiration to his excellency Generalissimo Kim Il Sung.
    His excellency Generalissimo Kim Il Sung, President of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is the sun of progressive, anti-colonialist and anti-imperialist humanity.
    He and his most dignified and illustrious successor, his excellency Marshal Kim Jong Il, supreme leader of the Korean nation and people, enjoy highest international prestige. They are not only geniuses of Korea, a paradise of Juche of multiple and grand realizations, most developed in all domains of socialist and communist construction and national edification, but also a symbol of purest and most heroic patriotism and firm solidarity with all the peoples who fight for national liberation, complete independence of the motherland and triumph of the ideas of justice, peace and progress.
    That is why during our struggles for national liberation, the Cambodian people and I received benefits of most powerful and fraternal support and many-sided and very generous aid from his excellency Generalissimo Kim Il Sung and his excellency Marshal Kim Jong Il, supreme leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
    My family, my followers and myself will never forget the benefits that the two great leaders venerated and loved by the valiant Korean people gave us most generously during the darkest period in our life and our contemporary history. We will cherish very profound and eternal gratitude to the two leaders and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
    On behalf of the Kingdom of Cambodia and my own behalf, I extend our warmest felicitations and admiration to his excellency Marshal Kim Jong Il, supreme leader of the glorious Democratic People's Republic of Korea, for the great realizations in his historic cause of socialist and communist construction and national edification and express our total and full support for the most patriotic and most just proposals formulated by his excellency Generalissimo-President Kim Il Sung and his most illustrious successor for the independent and peaceful reunification of Korea.
    In that sentiment, the Cambodian King proposed a toast to the incomparable and immortal glory of his excellency Generalissimo-President Kim Il Sung, to the good health, long life, happiness and glory of his excellency Marshal Kim Jong Il, supreme leader, and to the indestructible friendship between the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Gift to Kim Jong Il from Norodom Sihanouk

Pyongyang, July 7 (KCNA) - General Secretary Kim Jong Il received a gift from Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk on an official goodwill visit to Korea. The King conveyed the gift to Kim Yong Nam, President of the presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, today.

Kumsusan Memorial Palace, sacred ground of revolution

   Pyongyang, July 7 (KCNA) -- An increasing number of people visit the Kumsusan Memorial Palace to commemorate the 5th death anniversary of the President Kim Il Sung (July 8). The time-honored palace is where the President conducted energetic activities for the Korean and the world revolution while leading the affairs of the Worker's Party of Korea and the state. Korea made efforts to build the Kumsusan assembly hall into the Kumsusan Memorial Palace to open it to the public on the occasion of death anniversary.
    It was thanks to the infinite loyalty and filial piety of General Secretary Kim Jong Il to the late leader that the palace stands as the sacred temple. He gave instructions about colors and patterns of marble and even a tree to be planted in an arboretum around the palace, to say nothing of the examination of the layout table of the palace. Numerous was his visit to the construction site to solve knotty problems. The palace is excellent in content, shape, size and detailed decoration.
    Standing in the hall against the backdrop of blue sky and red glow on the first floor is the statue of the President. After mounting the grand staircase of more than one hundred stairs, 18 metres wide, through the hall you arrive at the spacious hall the floor and walls of which are red marble. Preserved there in state is the President. The visitors pay their deepest respects to the President and harden their determinations to remain loyal to Kim Jong Il, true to the behest of the President.
    Preserved with much care in the palace are a car used by the President in the last days of his life and a passenger train used by him during his foreign trip and for his on-site guidance, as well as orders and medals awarded to him by many countries around the world. In front of the palace is a plaza covering 100,000 square metres and around the palace is the arboretum of one million square metres in which hundreds of species of flowers and trees grow.
    The palace has nearly 1,000 metre long access corridor, tram cars running on the track of several kilometers and other facilities arranged for the convenience of the people who visit the palace under rough weather conditions.

Foreign diplomatic corps visits Korean Revolution Museum

Pyongyang, July 7 (KCNA) -- Foreign diplomatic corps here Tuesday visited the Korean Revolution Museum on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the President Kim Il Sung's passing away. They looked round the photos, revolutionary relics and materials showing the revolutionary activities of the President who devoted himself to the people to the last moment of his life. Doyen of the corps Shaher Mohammed Abdlah, Palestinian ambassador to Korea, wrote in the visitor's book that the idea and the exploits of President Kim Il Sung are deeply enshrined by the world people and expressed the belief that his cause would be brilliantly accomplished under the wise leadership of the great Kim Jong Il.

Events held on 5th anniversary of Kim Il Sung's passing away

   Pyongyang, July 7 (KCNA) -- A forum of students "let us arm ourselves more firmly with the revolutionary ideas of the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung " was held here on Tuesday on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of President Kim Il Sung's passing away.
    Speakers said that the President always lives in the hearts of the Korean and world people as the sun of Juche for his ideological and theoretical exploits made for the times and humankind. They stressed that the respected Kim Jong Il, the best model of loyalty and filial piety to the late leader, has tirelessly worked heart and soul to resolutely defend and glorify the revolutionary ideas of the President. They said that to become an absolute worshipper, resolute defender and perfect embodies of the great Kim Jong Il's ideas is a basic guarantee for glorifying the ideas of the President forever through generations.
    Meanwhile, a meeting of Pyongyang youth and students with an anti-Japanese revolutionary fighter and story-telling about virtues and poem reciting and singing of youths and schoolchildren were held in Pyongyang on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the President's passing away.

Reception for organizations for study of Juche idea

   Pyongyang, July 7 (KCNA) -- A reception was given in Pyongyang yesterday for delegations and delegate of organizations for the study of the Juche idea, on a visit to Korea on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the passing away of the President Kim Il Sung.
    Invited there were director general of the International Institute of the Juche Idea Shuhachi Inoue, chairman of the Latin American Institute of the Juche Idea Jose Francisco Aguilar Bulgarelli and his party, the delegation of the Sri Lanka Society for the Study of the Juche Idea, the Jordanian delegation for the Study of the Juche Idea and the delegate of the Ethiopian Organization for the Study of the Juche Idea.
    Yang Hyong Sop, vice-President of the presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK and chairman of the Korean Social Scientists Society, made an address there. He said that the President's great exploits performed for the fatherland, people, era and history would shine forever with the century.
    He noted that the respected Marshal Kim Jong Il successfully realized the cause of upholding the eternal leader at the highest level and is constantly strengthening and developing the socialist country of Juche into a powerful country. He wished the delegates of organizations for the study of the Juche idea greater successes in the work for studying and disseminating the Juche idea, increasing the ranks of followers of the Juche idea.
    The director general of the International Institute of the Juche Idea said that the President was the greatest of great men who founded the great revolutionary idea and method of leadership and devoted his whole life to the people, taking it as the maxim "to believe in people as in heaven." Noting that the President is the eternal leader not only of the Korean people but also of the world progressives, he stressed that the followers of the Juche idea are firmly determined to carry out his behest by devoting their all to the study and dissemination of the Juche idea.
    The chairman of the Latin American Institute of the Juche Idea expressed the determination to learn from the experience of the DPRK in which the Juche idea has been embodied. The President is immortal and his teachings always encourage us, he stated.

My dearest wish

Great man's life replete with love of country

    Pyongyang, July 7 (KCNA) -- On the eve of the 5th death anniversary of the great leader President Kim Il Sung the Korean people look back upon his life replete with warm love of the country and the nation. His life, beset with difficulties and adversities and characterized by more than two decades of anti-Japanese war for national liberation and 50 year-long post-liberation responsible guidance over the country and the nation, was pervaded with his love of the country and the nation.
    In his teens he embarked upon the road of revolution to save the country and the nation. He led the hard-fought anti-Japanese revolution, eating in the wind and sleeping in the rain and dew for more than 20 years. His love of the country and the nation is fully reflected in great many famous songs and works by him.
    Among those songs are "Song of Korea," "Nostalgia," "the Flower Girl," "Song of anti-Japanese war," "Song of the ten-point program of the association for the restoration of the fatherland," and "an Autumnal Day in Mt. Myohyang." In his celebrated works, including "the Korean Revolutionaries Must Know Korea Well" published in September Juche 32 (1943) he underlined the time-honored history and brilliant culture of Korea.
    On May 21, Juche 35 (1946) after the liberation of Korea from the Japanese colonial rule he took into his hands the first shovel to start the Pothong River improvement project for grand nature-remaking of the country. On April 6, Juche 36 (1947) he planted a tree on Mansu Hill in Pyongyang. Till the last period of his life he visited more than 18,000 units throughout the country to lay a solid groundwork for turning it into beautiful mountains and streams and bringing prosperity to the nation.
    He had warmer love of the country and the nation than anybody else. It was thanks to his wise guidance that the ancestral father of the Korean nation with the history spanning more than 5,000 years was found and the mausoleum of the ancestral father was successfully reconstructed on an expansion basis, the history of Koguryo (277 B.C.-668) was set straight, the mausoleum of the first King Wang Kon of Koryo (877-943) was reconstructed on an expansion basis and the Songgyun-Gwan Hall of Koryo (992), Kwangbop and Jongrung temples and many other historic sites and relics are preserved carefully.

President Kim Il Sung remembered by Chinese sailors

Pyongyang, July 7 (KCNA) -- A remembrance meeting of the crew of the Chinese ship "Cangwang" was held at Chongjin port on the east coast of Korea on Tuesday on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the President Kim Il Sung's passing away. The captain in his speech said that President Kim Il Sung was the great leader of the Korean people and benevolent father of all peoples whom the Korean nation acclaimed and held in high esteem for the first time in its history spanning 5,000 years.
Recalling that the respected President Kim Il Sung, a close friend of the Chinese people, provided and brought into bloom the unbreakable Sino-DPRK friendship, he noted that the noblest model of internationalism displayed by him in the period of the anti-Japanese revolutionary war would remain shining forever with history. The deputy captain in his speech said: The cause of revolution pioneered by President Kim Il Sung is being brilliantly carried forward by the great leader Kim Jong Il. Under his outstanding leadership the Korean people will overcome present difficulties and certainly build a powerful nation and reunify the country.

DPRK government memorandum released

   Pyongyang, July 7 (KCNA) -- The government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea released a memorandum Tuesday to hand down to all generations the undying feats performed by the President Kim Il Sung in the history of the movement for the national reunification on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the historic last signature put by him to the reunification-related document in his life.
    It was hours before his death that the President read an important document on the national reunification and put the last autograph to it on July 7, Juche 83 (1994). It was the greatest feats the President performed in the history of the movement for the national reunification that he put forward the most realistic and aboveboard principles and methods for national reunification and showed the bright road of achieving it, the memorandum says.
    In the first part the memorandum points out that the President advanced the three principles of national reunification, a reunification program common to the nation, the proposal for founding the Democratic Confederal Republic of Koryo, a grand plan for national reunification, and the ten-point programme of the great unity of the whole nation, a great charter for national unity. It goes on: On May 3, Juche 61 (1972), he received the South Korean delegate who came to Pyongyang to attend the inter-Korean high-level political talks and made public the three principles of national reunification, which he conceived and matured for a long time.
    The three principles of national reunification -- independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity -- were recognized by the north and the south as a common reunification program which was followed by the publication of the historic July 4 north-south joint statement the keynote of which is the principles.
    In the report to the sixth congress of the Worker's Party of Korea in October Juche 69 (1980), the President set forth an important proposal for attaining the national reunification by the method of creating a confederal state through the concerted efforts of the north and the south with different ideas and systems left intact. As the only most realistic one in Korea, the proposal on creating the DCRK mirrors most fairly the interests of the north and the south.
    At the 5th session of the 9th Supreme People's Assembly in April Juche 82 (1993), the President reiterated the idea of the great national unity which calls on all the Koreans to tangibly contribute to the national reunification and the prosperity of the reunified country, those with strength dedicating their strength, those with knowledge contributing their knowledge and those with money donating their money, and put forward "10-Point Program of the Great Unity of the Whole Nation for the Reunification of the Country".
    In the second part the memorandum says the cause of President Kim Il Sung for the national reunification has now been creditably carried forward by the great leader Kim Jong Il.
    In "Let Us Carry Out the Great Leader Comrade Kim Il Sung's Instructions for National Reunification", a historic work he published on August 4, Juche 86 (1997) on the 52nd anniversary of the liberation of the country, he defined as the three charters of national reunification the three principles of national reunification, the ten-point program of the great unity of the whole nation and the DCRK founding proposal, advanced by the President, thus setting up a strong pillar for reunification.
    On April 18 last year, he published the historic work "Let Us Reunify the Country Independently and Peacefully through the Great Unity of the Entire Nation", in which he proposed the five-point policy for great national unity -- adhering to the principle of the national independence, uniting under the banner of patriotism and national reunification, improving the inter-Korean relations and struggling against outsiders' domination and anti-reunification forces, ensuring travels, contacts and dialogues among all fellow countrymen and strengthening solidarity and alliance of the whole nation.
    The five-point policy for great national unity is the great charter of national unity which evolved in depth the fatherly leader President Kim Il Sung's idea on great national unity in conformity with the requirements of new era.
    Under the wise leadership of Kim Jong Il, who is creditably carrying forward the respected President Kim Il Sung's instructions for national reunification, the DPRK government will do its utmost to bring earlier the independent and peaceful reunification of the country with the support and encouragement of governments and peoples of all countries of the world loving peace and justice.

Floral basket laid before statue of Kim Il Sung

Pyongyang, July 7 (KCNA) -- The military attaches' corps here today visited the statue of the President Kim Il Sung standing on Mansu Hill on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of his passing away. Members of the corps laid a floral basket before his statue with reverence for him, the legendary hero for all ages , and paid homage to him. Written on the ribbon hanging from the basket were the letters "the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung will be immortal."

No one of south origin in north wishes to go back to S. Korea

   Pyongyang, July 7 (KCNA) -- The South Korean authorities are now seriously abusing the human rights of the unconverted long-term prisoners by barring their repatriation to the north. Keeping them behind bars for scores of years, they have persecuted and repressed them by every possible means.Yet, the South Korean authorities are nowadays calling for the "exchange" of the unconverted long-term prisoners for the non-existent "ROK army POWs" and "those abducted by the north" in the north. This is a far-fetched argument to avoid the repatriation of the unconverted long-term prisoners.
    Kim Sang Jin, 42, in Hwangju county, North Hwanghae Province, said: I was rescued by the northerners when our fishing boat was drifted away at sea in June 1992. I would have already been dead if there had been no help from northern brothers. In the north, I have been accorded hospitality as a human being. I settled in the north of my own accord as I found the socialist system in the north very good.
    Shamelessly enough, the South Korean authorities are describing this as an "abduction by the north". It is preposterous for the South Korean authorities to call for the "exchange" of the unconverted long-term prisoners desirous of returning to the north for the defectors who are not willing to go back to South Korea. There is not a single man among the defectors living in various parts of the northern half of Korea, who is willing to go back to South Korea, he stated.
    Sin Kyu Thak, 71, residing in Unryul county, South Hwanghae Province, said: The South Korean authorities' call for "exchange" is a foolish one intended to take to the south by force those who defected to the north of their own accord. I served in the 17th regiment of the 8th division of the army and joined the Korean People's Army in March 1951 to fight the enemy.Defectors from "ROK army" are not "POWs".
    The South Korean authorities should send back to the north all unconverted long-term prisoners who wish to come to the north, whether they are the north-origin prisoners or south-origin people.

NDFSK spokesman calls for accelerating movement for reunification

   Pyongyang, July 7 (KCNA) -- The spokesman of the National Democratic Front of South Korea (NDFSK) issued a statement on July 2 on the occasion of the 27th anniversary of the announcement of the July 4 joint statement, according to Seoul-based radio Voice of National Salvation.
    The spokesman said in the statement that the July 4 north-south joint statement, which embodied the three principles of national reunification -- independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity -- expounded by the great leader President Kim Il Sung, is the Juche-based program for national reunification which clarified the fundamental stand and principle of settling the issue of national reunification by the efforts of the nation in accordance with the will and interests of the nation.
    27 years have passed since the July 4 joint statement was announced, but the nation's desire for reunification has not yet been realised, the spokesman said, and added: The statement is faced with the critical crisis owing to the vicious moves of the "people's government." The spokesman called upon all the people to accelerate the movement for independent reunification on the basis of the July 4 joint statement agreed upon and solemnly announced by the north and south.
    The NDFSK will certainly achieve the historic cause of national reunification together with all the people who desire independence, peace and reunification, the statement stressed.

Protest by South Korean stock breeders

Pyongyang, July 7 (KCNA) -- The national council of livestock cooperatives on July 1 held a rally of 40,000 farmers in Seoul to check the forced merger of the cooperatives and denounced the anti-social moves of the South Korean authorities, a South Korean newspaper said. They protested that the present "government" is forcing a proposal for merger of cooperatives upon them in defiance of their opposition. They called for its immediate withdrawal. In a resolution adopted at the rally they evinced their determination to fight by all ways and means, until the proposal for the merger of cooperatives is withdrawn.

KCNA on Cohen's remarks

   Pyongyang, July 7 (KCNA) -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Cohen recently said that the U.S. has "war deterrent force strong enough" to provide against emergency on the Korean peninsula, according to a report. He also said that if the DPRK test-fires a missile again, "it would complicate the four-way talks and the implementation of different agreements."
    Cohen's remarks represent an impudent threat and foolish bravado of the aggressors and provocateurs, who have become extremely arrogant after the air raids on Yugoslavia as these are intended to spark a new war of aggression and justify it. He took issue with our self-reliant revolutionary armed forces. However, the U.S. forces are really cancer-like ones who divided the Korean peninsula and are persistently increasing the danger of war.
    It was none other than the U.S. forces who instigated the recent armed conflict in the West Sea of Korea. It is a sheer sophism that Cohen called the U.S. forces "deterrent force of war." And it is impudent interference and blackmail that he pulled up us over our missile issue. We have already repeatedly declared that such things as missile development, production and test launch belong to our sovereignty and no one has the right to take issue with the rights of a sovereign state.
    A few days ago, the U.S. openly announced its test launch of an inter-continental ballistic missile. Nevertheless, the U.S. is complaining about our missile test launch. Cohen's remarks show that the U.S. warmongers are so deep in vertigo of war that they cannot distinguish the Korean peninsula from the Balkans.
    If the U.S. is truly interested in the four-way talks and the implementation of the DPRK-U.S. framework agreement, it should not turn aside from the issue of replacing the armistice agreement with a peace agreement and the issue of withdrawal of its forces but, first of all, have a proper understanding of the DPRK and its self-reliant revolutionary armed forces.
    Cohen's utterances that the U.S. is now "fully ready" betrayed his bellicose attempt to carry on the "operation plan 5027-98" at any cost and control the DPRK militarily. We warn once again that we will punish any provocateurs encroaching upon our national sovereignty, whoever they may be.

Opinion poll on armed provocations in west sea

   Pyongyang, July 7 (KCNA) -- A South Korean organization for opinion poll "right voice center" made public the results of opinion poll regarding military provocations in the West Sea of Korea made by the present ruling quarters with the backing of the U.S., Seoul-based radio Voice of National Salvation said.
    The organization put a written question "how do you comment on the incident in the west sea?" to 1,320 people including students, university professors, dissidents, pressmen and civilians in South Korea. 97.5 percent of the respondents answered: "The incident was to bridge over the ruling crisis and unleash a second Yugoslav war." 80 percent of them asserted that the backstage manipulator of the incident was the U.S.
    They said that the present chief executive, who has no prerogative of the supreme command over the army, could not make such a dangerous military provocation of his own accord. The U.S. manipulated the Kim Dae Jung regime behind the incident in the west sea in a bid to spark a second Yugoslav war in the Korean peninsula.

S. Korean authorities' misuse of national songs

   Pyongyang, July 7 (KCNA) -- Rodong Sinmun today carries a signed commentary denouncing the South Korean rulers for their undisguised misuse of national songs. Popular songs created and sung under the Japanese colonial rule are withering away or misused by others in South Korea owing to the authorities' moves to stamp out national music.
    Recalling that intelligent and talented Korean writers and composers created songs representing the miserable plight of the stateless people, resentment at Japanese imperialism and love of the country, subjected to the harsh national humiliation and suppression by the Japanese imperialists, the commentary observes. They bear witness to the colonial history and ordeals and, at the same time, represent a priceless national musical legacy.
    The successive South Korean ruling quarters, however, indiscriminately banned songs created and disseminated in the days of the Japanese colonial rule for the mere reason that most of them were created by writers and composers who came to the north after the country's liberation.
    Consequently, many songs created by Jo Ryong Chul, Pak Yong Ho, Ri Myon Sang and Kim Hae Song, which had been so popular in the teeth of harsh suppression by the Japanese imperialists, have disappeared. This is an offspring of the South Korean authorities' hostile policy toward the north and their moves to obliterate the national culture. It is another indelible crime committed by them against the nation.
    It must not go unnoticed that songs created and sung during the period of the nation's ordeals are being undisguisedly misused. Nearly 1,000 songs including 500 songs written by Jo Ryong Chul have been misused by others due to swindles and frauds of the villains who have neither ethical morality nor an iota of conscience. The missuses have been given a fabulous amount of money for writing with the authorities' connivance. The South Korean authorities' moves to obliterate and misuse enlightenment songs can never be tolerated.

Japanese authorities' ill-intention disclosed

   Pyongyang, July 7 (KCNA) -- The present chief executive of Japan expressed "concern" at "nuclear development" and "missile launch" of the DPRK when he met the U.S. President at the recent G-8 Summit. Calling for U.S.-Japan "joint cooperation" to "contain" the DPRK, he went so far as to propose to discuss the issue of "missile launch" at the summit. This is a sloppy deed of a black-hearted person as well as an open challenge and provocation to the DPRK, says Rodong Sinmun today in a commentary.
    The news analyst further says: We have earnestly implemented the DPRK-U.S. agreed framework since its adoption. It is only Japan which is clamoring about "suspected nuclear development" of the DPRK. The missile launch belongs to our sovereignty and nobody can make an issue of it.
    The recent behaviour of the chief executive fully reveals the real intention of the Japanese reactionaries to possess nukes at any cost, ascribing Japan's defeat in World War II to its weak strength and non-possession of nuclear weapons. So they raised the rumour about "nuclear development" in the DPRK to find a pretext for their nuclear armament. Even after the rumour was dismissed as sophism, they are still taking issue with us to realize their nuclear armament under any pretext.
    As for "threat of missile launch," it is the DPRK, not Japan, which is exposed to it. Japan has long developed and tested various kinds of long-range missiles and, in addition to this, is seeking to deploy the "Theatre Missile Defense" system in league with the United States.
    Japan has completely laid legal foundations for overseas aggression, trying to gratify its wild design of "Greater East Asia Coprosperity Sphere" at any cost. Its first target is the DPRK. That is why the Japanese authorities are intentionally picking quarrels and provoking the DPRK. If they continue doing wrong and persistently take to military actions against the DPRK, we will crush them mercilessly.