Message of thanks to Kim Jong Il
Pyongyang, November 25 (KCNA) -- O Ik Je, vice-chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, sent a message of thanks to General Secretary Kim Jong Il on November 23 upon his return home in good health after medical treatment abroad.
After referring to the loving care shown for him by Kim Jong Il, O Ik Je wrote in the message that he is, indeed, the greatest man in history in terms of humanity.
He expressed his determination to repay the leader's greatest love and solicitude by totally dedicating the rest of his life to the sacred cause of reunification, the supreme task of the nation, believing in him as in heaven and holding him in high esteem.
Noting that the honor of the Korean nation and the happiness of all the people lie in the longevity of Kim Jong Il, he wholeheartedly wished him a long life in good health.
KCNA on false report of Asahi Shimbun
Pyongyang, November 25 (KCNA) -- The Japanese Asahi Shimbun recently carried defamatory articles one after another to provoke the DPRK.
The newspaper in its special write-up on Nov. 7 was so indiscreet as to distort the glorious revolutionary history of the great leader of our people Kim Il Sung. This is intolerable stooges of the imperialists, hack writers, bourgeoisie-paid scholars and others who dislike the ideology and social system in the DPRK are now taking great pains to tamper with the history of our revolutionary struggle and disparage it by citing figures and happenings from a few documents.
Asahi Shimbun released this false report on the basis of misinformation about Kim Il Sung's revolutionary history in disregard of our materials on the history. This is an intolerable insult to the Korean people as it is a sheer distortion of the genuine history.
No matter what others may say, our history will remain as it is.
Whenever there was a sign of fresh improvement in the DPRK-Japan relations, some media at the instigation of the Japanese right-wing reactionaries intentionally spread misinformation provided to them by the South Korean intelligence institutions in a bid to throw a wet blanket over the efforts to open the relations between the two countries.
Such a provocative article appeared in the Japanese paper at a time when the public in Japan and abroad are lifting up their voices demanding Japan's liquidation of its past and improved DPRK-Japan relations as days go by with the present century coming to its end and the DPRK visit of a Japanese supra-partisan delegation is high on the agenda.
This merits our particular attention.
We lodge a stern protest with the paper against its sheer false report and strongly demand it apologize for it at once.
Ministry of Electronic Industry formed
Pyongyang, November 25 (KCNA) -- The Ministry of Electronic Industry was newly formed in the DPRK.
A decree of the presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on forming it was issued yesterday.
Letter to anti-war and peace organizations of world
Pyongyang, November 25 (KCNA) -- The Korean National Peace Committee sent a letter yesterday to anti-war and peace organizations of the world in connection with the ever more intensified moves to develop long-range ballistic missile in South Korea.
Recalling that the South Korean authorities have pushed their own missile development since the 1970s, the letter said that they set the goal for the development of long-range missile long ago and have secretly moved ahead with it.
The letter continued:
Their test-fire of a new missile in April was part of their premeditated moves to extend the range of their missile.
The long-range ballistic missile now being developed in South Korea can reach not only the whole area of the DPRK but areas far beyond the Korean peninsula.
Their moves to develop the long-range ballistic missile are not for "defence" but very adventurous and dangerous ones to play the role of a shock force in the execution of the expansionist policy of the U.S. aimed to establish its domination over the Asia-Pacific region by force. If this is tolerated, it will result in escalating the arms race and missile race in northeast Asia, the world's biggest hot spot, and the military tensions not only on the Korean peninsula but in the far east.
The U.S. has forced others to observe international conventions and principles related to world peace and security while violating them and the South Korean authorities have followed its policy. This double-dealing attitude should not be tolerated.
The letter expressed the expectation that the world's anti-war and peace organizations, which have valued peace and security of humankind and carried on energetic activities to defend them, will work to check the moves of the South Korean authorities to develop long-range ballistic missile at the U.S. connivance and continue to pay deep attention to the issue of ensuring peace on the Korean peninsula in accordance with the desire of the Korean nation and humankind to live in a new peaceful century free from war and confrontation.
Kim Jong Il praised as veteran statesman of world
Pyongyang, November 25 (KCNA) -- The great leader Kim Jong Il is a veteran statesman of the world and the DPRK guided by him is shining as a powerful socialist country, said Tadeusz Baukowski, first vice-chairman of the central committee of the Poland-DPRK Association.
Baukowski, head of the association delegation, said in an interview with the KCNA before his departure:
Kim Jong Il has led the Korean and the world revolution for over 30 years, performing immortal exploits for the times and revolution, the country and people. He enjoys deep respect and trust of the world progressive people as an outstanding leader in the era of independence with a long-standing political career and rich experience.
The greatest of his exploits is that he has brilliantly realized the cause of perpetuating the leader's memory with the noble moral obligation and loyalty and filial piety.
He created a model and built up a powerful fortress for socialism and made a victorious progress of the cause of independence.
As a great leader, he has reliably been defending the destiny of humankind.
His high prestige is brilliantly shining all over the world and, under his guidance, the 21st century will be a century of victory for the world progressive humankind aspiring after socialism and independence.
The DPRK has been turned into a political and military power of the world and reached the high peak of science and technology under the leadership of Kim Jong Il, he said, and stressed:
Today the DPRK is displaying its name as a country standing high over the world.
Kim Jong Il is master of architecture
Pyongyang, November 25 (KCNA) -- Metodio Sehe Nsi Bindang, administrative secretary of the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea who visited the DPRK as a member of a delegation of the party, said that he was deeply moved to see the grand monumental edifices built in Pyongyang.
He noted:
We were struck with wonder at the edifices including the Tower of the Juche Idea, the Grand People's Study House and the monument to the party foundation which we visited.
Through my visit to Korea, I came to know well that Kim Jong Il has set brilliant examples in the leadership over the architectural field, too, with his incomparably profound knowledge about architectural art.
He is the master of architectural art. He brought about changes in the construction of the capital and the erection of the grand monumental edifices with his foresighted wisdom and extraordinary leadership.
The grand monumental edifices built under his wise leadership are the common wealth not only of the Korean people but also of humankind.
Kim Jong Il is successfully solving all the problems including the building of the monumental edifices by mobilizing the inexhaustible creative energy of the people, having confidence in their strength.
KCTU of S. Korea gains legitimacy
Pyongyang, November 25 (KCNA) -- The South Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), an umbrella independent organization of workers, reportedly won its legitimacy four years after its inauguration in November 1995.
In those years the organization had waged the valiant struggle for its legitimacy as well as for vital rights, democratic freedom and national reunification, despite the authorities' repression and sinister disintegration moves.
Unable to break the unity of workers and block their massive struggle, the authorities on November 23 accepted the KCTU's application for establishment of trade unions and recognized its legitimacy.
The KCTU groups 19 federations such as federations of metal, construction, public service, hospital, tourist, banking and fiber workers unions, the "National Teachers Union," and over 1,200 unions whose members are about 600,000.
Spraying of defoliant denounced
Pyongyang, November 25 (KCNA) -- 14 organizations in the DPRK including the central committee of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland, the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, the central committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea and the Korean Democratic Lawyers Association released a joint statement on Wednesday condemning the U.S. and the South Korean authorities for spraying defoliant in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) along the Military Demarcation Line (MDL).
In the statement they demanded the U.S. and the South Korean authorities formally apologize for their crimes before the Korean nation and immediately stop the production and use of weapons of mass destruction.
The statement said:
The U.S. sprayed at least 76,000 litres of defoliant in the DMZ along the MDL by mobilizing "ROK" army soldiers according to the secret operation plan called "68 plan to destroy plants" from 1968 to 1969.
Many South Korean young and middle-aged people who had been taken to the Vietnam war of aggression as gun fodder of the U.S. troops died long ago or have suffered severe pain for scores of years and their children have become either deformed or crippled due to the aftermath of defoliant, the statement stressed, and went on:
If the criminal moves of the U.S. are overlooked, the whole mankind will fall tragic victim to them.
The U.S.'s policy of aggression toward the DPRK is encouraged by the South Korean rulers who are keen on stifling the compatriots in the north, clinging to the coattails of foreign forces.
The statement expressed the belief that the world's progressives would further lift up their just voices condemning the criminal moves of the U.S., harassers of peace and stranglers of humankind.
Defoliant victims demand compensation
Pyongyang, November 25 (KCNA) -- Defoliant victims in South Korea, who had been taken to the Vietnamese war of aggression provoked by the U.S., formed a defense counsel consisting of 101 lawyers to demand compensation for their damage, a South Korean newspaper said.
They filed a suit with the Seoul district court against a defoliant manufacturing company of the U.S., demanding 5,160 billion won in compensation.
They held that the U.S. should pay compensation for spraying the murderous poisonous material in the demilitarized zone along the Military Demarcation Line of Korea.
Meanwhile, the federation of measures against defoliant, a group of defoliant victims, called a press conference in Seoul on November 23 and strongly urged the authorities to take steps for the medical treatment of the victims and the living of their families.
Massacre of GIs disclosed
Pyongyang, November 25 (KCNA) -- The massacre committed by GIs in Rogun-ri, Yongdong county in South Korea during the past Korean War has been confirmed by over 180 witnesses, according to a radio report from Seoul.
Reports of brutal massacres committed by GIs were made every day as of November 23, one month after an office for receiving them was set up.
According to the reports, the number of victims is over 200, including 144 dead, 32 wounded and 10 missing.
Meanwhile, an investigation group in Ryosu had an on-the-spot investigation according to the report of a victim on November 22. As a result, it was proved that the U.S. military planes strafed about 350 refugees at a port of Ryosu on August 3, 1950, leaving over 140 of them dead.
Repatriation of unconverted long-term prisoners demanded
Pyongyang, November 25 (KCNA) -- Loud voices demanding the repatriation of the unconverted long-term prisoners in South Korea are ringing out from various countries.
The Trinidad and Tobago-DPRK Friendship and Solidarity Association in a statement issued on November 16 said the present South Korean authorities have lent a deaf ear to the just demand of the DPRK for the repatriation of such unconverted long-term prisoners as Kim In So and Ham Se Hwan within this year.
It went on:
This is an inhumane and unjustifiable act.
We strongly urge the South Korean authorities to immediately repatriate the unconverted long-term prisoners to North Korea where their families and relatives are waiting for them as demanded by them.
The Security Judges' Association of Guyana in a November 17 letter of protest addressed to the South Korean chief executive said that the South Korean authorities have not yet repatriated the unconverted long-term prisoners suffering from various diseases caused by brutal torture and inhumane treatment for the mere reason that they refuse to be "converted".
We think that it is an elementary humanitarian demand to repatriate them to their hometowns without delay and urge the South Korean authorities to immediately repatriate them to their hometowns within this year.
S. Korean authorities involved in U.S. "SDI"
Pyongyang, November 25 (KCNA) -- The South Korean authorities have been actively involved in the U.S. "Strategic Defense Initiative" (SDI) since 1987, according to a news report from Seoul.
The U.S. going ahead with the research into the "SDI" from early in the 1980s, wooed the South Korean authorities to participate in it. They sent "research groups" to the U.S. two times in 1987.
At that time the U.S. forced the South Korean authorities to sign an agreement on preserving "military patent and secret".
Yielding to this, they had a "detailed discussion" on it.
This was followed by the making of a "report of the research group" aimed at getting South Korea involved in the "SDI" in the 2000s with the "Agency of Science and Technology" as a main participant.
The U.S. demanded the formation of a "joint research team" for the "Theatre Missile Defense" system in the 1990s, too.
Biggest gilded bronze statue of Buddha made by Korean
Pyongyang, November 25 (KCNA) -- There is the world's biggest gilded bronze statue of Buddha at Todai Temple in Nara Prefecture, Japan.
"Great statue of Buddha in Nara" is 16 metres high and 380 tons in weight and his finger is as big as the height of a man.
It took 14 years for a Korean called Kuk Ma Ryo to make the statue after he began working on it in 743.
It is written in an old Japanese book "Brief History of Japan" that none of many casters dared to manufacture the Buddhist statue as it was 5 Jang (16 metres) in height but Kuk Ma Ryo successfully made it with his rare skill.
The erection of this huge statue involved complex technical process.
8 rounds of casting were required to make the statue.
Its pedestal was molded first and then followed the phased casting of the body up to its head.
A mould was made with a mixture of pine rosin and wax and covered with mud to truthfully represent the delicate and soft line of the body. Then it was heated to make a mould and molten bronze poured into it to make the statue.
Japanese said that Japanese paintings including Buddhist statues created in Japan at that time strongly smack of "Korean skill".
This proves that most of the things created at that time were made by such talented Koreans as Kuk Ma Ryo.
The great Buddhist statue at Todai Temple which recorded a brilliant page in the art history of the east is clear evidence that the Korean nation exerted a great influence upon the cultural development in Japan.
Erection of monument to three-point charter makes headway
Pyongyang, November 25 (KCNA) -- The erection of the monument to the three-point charter of national reunification is making brisk headway in Pyongyang thanks to the positive support and concern of all the compatriots in the north, south and overseas.
A joint promotion committee of compatriots in the north, south and overseas to undertake the erection of the monument to the three-point charter of national reunification as a pan-national reunification movement was formed at the north, south and overseas consultative meeting of the National Alliance for the Country's Reunification held from November 5 to 6.
The South Korean organizations for reunification are staging a movement to prepare best stone for the monument, saying that "the monument is a pride of the nation and a beacon to push forward the reunification cause of the nation."
A ground-breaking ceremony for the monument was held with representatives of compatriots in the north, south and abroad attending as part of the August 15 Grand Pan-National Pro-Reunification Festival. With this desire for reunification growing stronger, the groundwork concrete tamping was completed in a matter of three months.
The monument is rising at the entrance to Thongil Street, a gateway to Pyongyang from Kaesong.
The President Kim Il Sung set forth the three principles of national reunification, the proposal on founding the Democratic Confederal Republic of Koryo and the 10-point program of the great unity of the entire nation and General Secretary Kim Jong Il formulated them as the three-point charter of national reunification. The monument will be erected in such a way as to make a formative and artistic representation of the validity and vitality of the charter.
The main pillar of this 55 metre high monument will be supported by the three pillars symbolic of compatriots in the north, south and overseas. It depicts the dance "Tansimjul" (May pole) on the theme of the anti-Japanese national united front which was created and performed in the period of the anti-Japanese armed struggle.
The facade of the main pillar of the monument will be inscribed with the letters "monument to three-point charter of national reunification" and its lower parts with the content of the charter. It will have a ring 4 metres in diameter on its top and a map of reunified Korea will be carved on its frontal side.
The monument will be characterized by the stone contributed to the monument by compatriots in the north, south and overseas with all sincerity.
Those who have made a tangible contribution, material and mental, to the country's reunification will also find space for placing stone in their own names on the monument according to their wishes.
A long screen-like granite wall will be erected behind the monument on which compatriots in the north, south and overseas in struggle for national reunification will be carved in bronze.
DPRK delegation off to U.S.
Pyongyang, November 25 (KCNA) -- A delegation of the Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee led by vice-chairman Kim Hyong U left here by plane for the United States.
Choe Thae Bok meets Chinese guests
Pyongyang, November 25 (KCNA) -- Choe Thae Bok, secretary of the central committee of the Worker's Party of Korea, met and had a talk with the visiting delegation of workers for the study of history in Yuwen Middle School, Jilin, China, headed by its party secretary Li Quan, in a friendly atmosphere at the Mansudae Assembly Hall today.