Kim Jong Il's army-first politics praised
Pyongyang, December 21 (KCNA) -- Sati Anand Yaji, general secretary of the All-India Freedom Fighters Successor Organization, in a press statement issued on Dec. 14 on the occasion of the 8th anniversary of the election of the great leader Kim Jong Il as Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army, said that the KPA will always be victorious under the outstanding leadership of the great brilliant commander.
Thanks to the army-first politics of Marshal Kim Jong Il, the DPRK is steadily advancing along the road of victory despite the ever more undisguised moves of the imperialist reactionaries to isolate and stifle it, he note, and went on;
The army-first politics of the respected Supreme Commander Kim Jong Il is an ever-victorious banner which encourages the people to defend and complete the cause of socialism.
The imperialists are trying to bring socialist Korea to their knees by force of arms but it is advancing, undaunted, as there is the KPA which is prepared politically and ideologically and in military technique, guided by the great brilliant commander.
Joint statement on DPRK-Japan Red Cross talks
Pyongyang, December 21 (KCNA) -- A joint statement on the DPRK-Japan Red Cross talks was issued today.
The statement, signed by vice-chairman Ho Hae Ryong of the central committee of the Red Cross Society of the DPRK, and vice-chairman Tadaderu Konoe of the Red Cross Society of Japan, reads as follows:
The DPRK Red Cross Society and the Japan Red Cross Society had bilateral talks in Beijing from December 19 to 21, 1999, to settle humanitarian issues of mutual concern, in accordance with the December 3, 1999 joint press statement of the delegations of the Worker's Party of Korea and Japanese political parties.
The talks were attended by a delegation of the DPRK Red Cross Society headed by vice-chairman Ho Hae Ryong and a delegation of the Japan Red Cross Society headed by vice-chairman Tadaderu Konoe.
Both delegations involved government officials from the two countries.
The two sides admitted the importance and urgency of the settlement of all humanitarian issues in which the DPRK and Japan are interested and agreed that they should settle them affirmatively and simultaneously in the year 2000.
They, agreeing to continue talks, if necessary, confirmed as follows:
1. Both sides decided to restart the third hometown visit of Japanese women in the DPRK next spring and carry it out in accordance with the procedures and method that were agreed upon in the past.
2. Both sides confirmed that survey of safety is a basic humanitarian mission of Red Cross.
The DPRK side, considerate of the proposal made by its Japanese counterpart, decided to ask a relevant organ to conduct a deep-going investigation into the missing persons whose list was presented by the Japanese side.
3. The Japanese side was informed of the recent food situation by its Korean counterpart and the Japan Red Cross Society decided to propose the Japanese government to resume humanitarian food aid at the earliest possible date and the Japanese government decided to examine the food aid.
4. Both sides decided to cooperate with each other for discussions on the survey of the safety of the Korean victims missing before 1945 and the settlement of the issue.
UN urged to dissolve "UN command" in S. Korea
Pyongyang, December 21 (KCNA) -- A letter sent by the permanent representative of the DPRK at the United Nations to the UN Secretary General was distributed as an official document of the U.N Security Council S/1999/No.1242 on Dec. 16.
The letter referred to the massacres committed by GIs against innocent civilians in South Korea during the past Korean War and to the disclosed criminal spraying of defoliant over the Demilitarized Zone along the Military Demarcation Line.
As the U.S. forces committed unheard-of massacres in the name of the "UN forces" during the Korean War, the United Nations was involved in the massacres and responsible for them, the letter said, and noted:
Nevertheless, in those days the UN took no step to stop GIs' massacres, thus leaving an inglorious stain in its history.
The United States is still keeping the "UN command" which has perpetrated massacres in South Korea and using it as a lever to cover up its war policy.
The United Nations should neither turn its back on the dismantlement of the "UN command" in South Korea nor escape from the responsibility for it but take a relevant step both in view of needs of the changed situation and in the sense of obligation to liquidate its inglorious past.
Military attaches' corps here visits Phyongchon Revolutionary Site
Pyongyang, December 21 (KCNA) -- The military attaches' corps here visited the Phyongchon Revolutionary Site in Pyongyang yesterday on the occasions of the 8th anniversary of the great leader Kim Jong Il's election as Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army and the 82nd birth anniversary of Kim Jong Suk.
The revolutionary site is located in the place where the President Kim Il Sung built the nation's first ordnance factory.
Kim Jong Suk and Kim Jong Il accompanied the President visiting the factory several times and indicated the road for the factory to follow.
Relics and materials on them are preserved there.
Vu Dinh Thang, military attach of the Vietnamese embassy here who is doyen of the corps and other military attaches wrote in the visitor's book that the site clearly tells what enormous efforts the President exerted to increase defence capabilities.
Bust of hero Kim Myong Je erected
Pyongyang, December 21 (KCNA) -- A bust of hero Kim Myong Je was unveiled with due ceremony at the Kim Myong Je Senior Middle School.
Kim destroyed an enemy's pillbox, paving the way for the charge of the unit in the battle fought on hill 351 in the eastern sector of the front in July, Juche 41 (1952) during the last Fatherland Liberation War.
He shouted at the top of his voice "Long live general Kim Il Sung " while falling in action after successfully fulfilling his combat duty. He was posthumously awarded the title of DPRK hero in October that year.
General Secretary Kim Jong Il bestowed upon him such loving care as seeing to it that his alma mater the Jasong Senior Middle School in Jasong county, Jagang Province was named after Kim Myong Je last year and that his bust has been erected at the school this time.
Revolutionary anecdotes about Kim Jong Suk
Pyongyang, December 21 (KCNA) -- In Korea there are a number of anecdotes about revolutionary activities and noble personality of the great communist revolutionary fighter Kim Jong Suk.
An anecdote "secret of marksmanship" says that she cultivated the skill of marksmanship in the period of the anti-Japanese armed struggle to remain intensely loyal to the President Kim Il Sung.
In September, Juche 24 (1935) when she just joined the Korean People's Revolutionary Army she participated in a shooting contest held in honor of recruits.
Though it was the first contest for her, she, perfectly composed, hit all the targets.
Guerrillas, quite marveled at her shooting, asked her what was the secret of her marksmanship. She said it was most important to think that in case one's bullet misses the target one can not defend commander Kim Il Sung and carry out the Korean revolution.
Scores of years have passed since her brisk activities after the country's liberation. But still touching the right chord in the hearts of the people are such stories as "her early morning program," "a reading lamp and its shade," "umbrella carrying best wishes," "'loyal bridge' in Onpho brook," etc. They tell about how Kim Jong Suk devoted herself to the safety and longevity of Kim Il Sung and to lessen his burden when he was busy steering the building of a new country at that time.
"Resourcefulness of woman commander of Mt. Paektu," "becoming herself election campaigner," "travelling at night for comrade," "teaching us to become faithful servant of people" and hundreds of other anecdotes tell about noble patriotism, ardent comradeship, indomitable revolutionary spirit and unparalleled courage of Kim Jong Suk.
They greatly encourage the Korean people in their struggle to build a powerful socialist nation under the leadership of the great leader Kim Jong Il.
Sports contest opens
Pyongyang, December 21 (KCNA) -- A sports contest for "Osandok" Cup opened on the occasion of the 82nd birth anniversary of the great Kim Jong Suk.
During the contest basketball, volleyball, marathon, figure skating and other sports events will take place in Pyongyang and local areas.
The contest is participated in by sports teams in the capital city and all provinces and at universities.
An opening ceremony for it was held in Chongjin, North Hamgyong Province, yesterday.
Brown bear of Kwanmo Peak
Pyongyang, December 21 (KCNA) -- Brown bears can be found in the alpine forests thousands of hectares wide around Kwanmo Peak (2,540 metres above sea level) that towers on the border between Maehyang-ri in Kyongsong county and Sampho-ri in Yonsa county, North Hamgyong Province. They are under international protection.
A big bear is two metres long and weighs 480 to 500 kg.
Its hide is of mixed brown, dark brown and black colors.
It hibernates during the winter in a cave and tree hollow or under a fallen tree. It is expert at tree-climbing and swimming.
It normally covers 40 km a day in quest of food.
It copulates in June and July and, after a gestation period of 180 to 250 days, it gives birth.
This area is a good habitat for it, and its numbers are on the steady growth.
Game hunt is taboo in this area, and special rangers are active to protect wild game.
In North Hamgyong Province, there are other Korean endemic, singular animals such as otters in Sinyang, musk deer at Rokya-ri and Mahyang and fur-seals at Uam, some of them under international protection.
Songs are banner of victory
Pyongyang, December 21 (KCNA) -- Songs have become the banner of victory of the revolution in Korea.
The Korean revolution began with songs and has advanced and won with them.
In the 1920s and 1930s, the first rigorous periods of the Korean revolution, the Korean communists waged a bloody struggle against the Japanese imperialists with firm faith in and optimism for the victory of revolution, singing many revolutionary songs including "Star of Korea," "Song of Red Flag" and "March of the Guerrilla Army."
"Song of Anti-Japanese War," "Song of the Ten-Point Program of the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland," etc. created by the President Kim Il Sung during the anti-Japanese armed struggle encouraged the Korean people who fought against Japanese.
After the liberation of the country, the immortal revolutionary hymn "Song of General Kim Il Sung," "National Anthem," "May of Victory" and so on inspired the working people from all walks of life to build a new country. During the three-year Fatherland Liberation War of the Korean people against the U.S.'s armed invasion many wartime songs including "Our Supreme Commander" and "To Road of Decisive Battle" were created to give the conviction of victory to the people's army soldiers and people who fought decisive battles against the enemy.
"Song of Rehabilitation and Construction," "We Rush Forward in the Spirit of Chollima," "March of Self-reliance" and other songs which were composed during the periods of the post-war rehabilitation and construction and the socialist revolution and construction aroused the people to creation and exploits.
The vitality of songs, the banner of victory, has been more clearly proved in recent years.
When the whole country was full of sorrow over the death of President Kim Il Sung and the world was concerned about Korea, the song "We Pledge" made all the people rise up resolutely with thousand-fold strength. Then the immortal revolutionary hymn "Song of General Kim Jong Il," "Let Us Hold High the Red Flag," "We Will Advance Full of Conviction," "My Great Country" and many other songs instilled the conviction of certain victory and courage into the hearts of the people.
The Korean people are running at a canter to build a powerful nation, with the firm confidence in victory, despite the manifold ordeals and difficulties, loudly singing these songs.
S. Korean rulers hit for praising U.S. aggressors
Pyongyang, December 21 (KCNA) -- The secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland issued information bulletin no. 796 on Monday as regards strange burlesques to be held in South Korea for three years from next year, 50 years since the start of the Korean War, during which war-related "events" will be staged under the name of "tourism" and "commercialization."
A tourist company of South Korea plans to reproduce a "landing operation" during the Korean War and the like, orchestrate a "street march" and invite to South Korea tens of thousands of GIs who survived the war to give a "welcome dinner" for them and award "commemorative medals" to them.
The projected clumsy farce reveals once again the sycophantic and treacherous nature of the South Korean authorities who are distorting and whitewashing the U.S.'s history of aggression in which they inflicted untold war damage and sufferings on the Korean nation and currying favour with their U.S. master, the information bulletin said, and went on:
This is no more than a crafty trick to calm down the mounting anti-American sentiment of the South Korean people who are enraged at the GIs' massacres during the war and keep the U.S. aggression troops in South Korea.
What the Korean nation should do 50 years since the Korean War provoked by the U.S. is to bring to justice of history the U.S. murderers for their war crimes, severely punish them and make them pay for the blood shed by our fellow countrymen a thousand times.
Declaration of workers for total abolition of "security law" released
Pyongyang, December 21 (KCNA) -- Recently, the South Korean Confederation of Trade Unions released a declaration of workers for the total abolition of the "security law," according to a South Korean newspaper report.
It demanded a total abolition of the "security law," revealing the falsehood of the "partial revision" of the authorities.
It also demanded a total and unconditional release of the prisoners of conscience and a stop to the police search for those on the want list.
Fighting women's trade unions formed in S. Korea
Pyongyang, December 21 (KCNA) -- South Korean women have formed organizations to win their rights and democratic freedom nowadays, according to a report of the South Korean newspaper Hangyore.
Women's trade unions have been organised in various places of South Korea since the Seoul Women's Trade Union, the first of its kind, was formed in January this year.
On this basis, 15 women's trade unions of 9 regions formed the "National Confederation of Women's Trade Unions" under the South Korean Confederation of Trade Unions on July 3. It was followed by appearance of many women's organizations including "National Women's Trade Union".
This brought the number of the women's trade unions to twenty at present in South Korea.
The chairwoman of the "National Women's Trade Union" said that as the idea that the women workers cannot repress their anger has been instilled into their minds through their life experience, they are joining the trade unions to win their rights through their positive, substantial activities, not in words.