Kim Yong Nam meets Congolese delegation
Pyongyang, January 28 (KCNA) -- Kim Yong Nam, President of the presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK, met and conversed with a delegation of the Transition National Council of Congo led by its president Justin Koumba who paid a courtesy call on him at the Mansudae Assembly Hall today.
The head of the delegation said that President Denis Sassou Nguesso has always told Congolese officials the special friendship with the great leader Kim Il Sung and emphasized before them the need to develop the friendly relations with the DPRK led by the great leader Kim Jong Il.
Saying that the difficulties and trials the DPRK is undergoing due to the imperialists' moves to isolate and stifle it and repeated natural disasters are temporary ones, he said that the Korean people would surely overcome them and emerge victorious.
Yang Hyong Sop meets Vietnamese guests
Pyongyang, January 28 (KCNA) -- Yang Hyong Sop, vice-president of the presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, today met and conversed with Vu Khoan, standing vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, and his party at the Mansudae Assembly Hall.
Vu Khoan said that they are grateful to the President Kim Il Sung for positive support and encouragement to the Vietnamese people in their struggle for national salvation.
The Vietnamese people wish the Korean people with revolutionary and strong will greater success in their efforts to step up the second grand Chollima advance and achieve national reunification, he stressed.
Floral basket to Kim Jong Il
Pyongyang, January 28 (KCNA) -- General Secretary Kim Jong Il received a floral basket from Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso on his birthday.
It was handed today to President of the presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly Kim Yong Nam by President of the Transition National Council of Congo Justin Koumba on a visit to the DPRK.
Gift to Kim Jong Il
Pyongyang, January 28 (KCNA) -- General Secretary Kim Jong Il received a gift from Vu Khoan, standing vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, and his party on a visit to the DPRK.
It was handed to Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun by the standing vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Aid materials from Chinese embassy
Pyongyang, January 28 (KCNA) -- The Chinese embassy here presented aid materials to the Thaehyang coal mine under the Anju Coal Industry Management Bureau.
The materials were handed over to the coal mine by Chinese ambassador Wan Yongxiang and embassy officials yesterday.
The ambassador said that the Korean people are promoting the second grand Chollima march under the leadership of Kim Jong Il. He noted they admire the Korean people for the fighting spirit of advancing unhesitatingly in the face of difficulties.
Saying that they regard the present hardships of the Korean people as their own, he hoped the workers of the Thaehyang coal mine would greet the 55th anniversary of the Worker's Party of Korea with greater achievements in coal production.
Korean nationals in China to celebrate Kim Jong Il's birthday
Pyongyang, January 28 (KCNA) -- A preparatory committee of the General Association of Koreans in China was formed on January 15 to celebrate the 58th birthday of General Secretary Kim Jong Il.
Yang Yong Dong, chairman of the association, was elected chairman of the preparatory committee.
The committee decided to hold colorful celebration functions such as meeting, photo and book exhibition and film show.
DPRK-Vietnam diplomatic relations marked
Pyongyang, January 28 (KCNA) -- A meeting was held here yesterday to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the DPRK and Vietnam.
Invited to it were standing vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam Vu Khoan and his party, Vietnamese ambassador to the DPRK Do Thi Hoa and embassy officials.
Present were vice-Minister of Education Jon Kuk Man, who is also chairman of the DPRK-Vietnam Friendship Association, officials concerned and working people in the city.
Speeches were made at the meeting.
Paektusan Cup sports contest opens
Pyongyang, January 28 (KCNA) -- The Paektusan Cup sports contest of officials at ministries and national institutions opened with the approach of the 58th birthday of General Secretary Kim Jong Il.
Attending the contest are 80 odd teams from ministries and national institutions, which will compete in the events of basketball, volleyball, table-tennis, tug-of-war and hurdle race.
A ceremony of opening the contest was held at the table-tennis gymnasium in Chongchun Street here on Thursday.
Ryom Sun Gil, chairman of the central committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea, made an address there, which was followed by speeches.
The speakers called for, through the contest, demonstrating the might of Korean socialism under which mass sports activities are brisk in the whole society, and whipping up an atmosphere of the auspicious February holiday.
National meeting of agricultural workers held
Pyongyang, January 28 (KCNA) -- A national meeting of agricultural workers was held in Pyongyang between January 26 and 27.
Present at the meeting were senior party and state officials including Hong Song Nam and Kye Ung Thae and agricultural workers and officials of related sectors.
The meeting discussed the tasks and ways to bring about a revolutionary turn in agricultural production this year by thoroughly implementing the agricultural policy of the Worker's Party of Korea.
Ri Ha Sop, Minister of Agriculture, delivered a report, which was followed by speeches by many participants.
The meeting underscored the need to bring about a radical improvement in seed selection essential for boosting the agricultural production and continue to vigorously push ahead with double cropping.
It also called for applying the Juche farming method in which the peasants' will is fully reflected and whose validity and vitality have been proved and increasing the overall agricultural production, including massive breeding of grass-eating domestic animals and fish farming under a long-term plan and production of vegetable, fruits, industrial crops and silk worms.
The meeting underlined the necessity to complete all the on-going land leveling and rezoning in North Phyongan Province to make it pay off in the first farming after the completion of the project, make farsighted preparations for similar projects in South Hwanghae Province and energetically push forward the Kaechon-Lake Thaesong Waterway project.
KCNA on S. Korean ruler's "carrot and stick" strategy
Pyongyang, January 28 (KCNA) -- The "carrot and stick" strategy is the core of the South Korean authorities' policy toward the DPRK.
The present South Korean chief executive, in an appearance on a special CNN program at the outset of the month, asserted that "both carrot and stick should be used, that is to say if the north keeps its promise, the south will give corresponding aid to it, if not, the latter will make the former pay a bitter price."
His "carrot and stick" strategy is just like both sides of a coin. It is, in essence, nothing but a reactionary and criminal stratagem to serve a sinister politico-military purpose to destabilize the north and destroy it.
His "carrot" strategy is aimed to lead the north to "reform and opening" in a bid to achieve the above-said aim.
The South Korean warmongers do not bother to threaten that if the "carrot" strategy does not work on the north, they will use a "stick to make it pay a bitter price."
But, flourishing a "stick" is as foolish an act as lifting an axe only to drop it on one's own foot.
As seen above, the "carrot and stick" strategy means a strategy of confrontation with the north intended to bar national reconciliation and unity and a treacherous and criminal move to bring all sorts of misfortunes and sufferings to the compatriots.
This strategy is an offspring of the "engagement policy" or the "sunshine policy."
The South Korean authorities borrowed the "engagement policy" from the U.S.
The South Korean chief executive, in his "special lecture" given on June 30, 1998, said that the United States had escalated its engagement with the soviet union for 19 years, maintaining an unshakable security posture, which resulted in leading the Soviet empire to collapse without a single gunshot and bringing democracy to eastern Europe.
And he did not conceal the fact that the "sunshine policy" was a copy of such policy.
The U.S., on the basis of its experience in leading the former soviet union to breakdown, has followed the "carrot and stick" policy toward the DPRK in recent years in a bid to bring the same tragedy to the Korean people.
As the South Korean authorities are apt to parrot what their American master says, they exactly copied the U.S. "carrot and stick" strategy to make it the core of the policy of confrontation with the north.
For its reactionary nature, the U.S. dictated "carrot and stick" strategy is bound to go awry and to be thrown into the dustbin of history.
Move to call back departed soul of traitors condemned
Pyongyang, January 28 (KCNA) -- The spokesman of the National Democratic Front of South Korea issued a statement on January 22 denouncing the moves of Kim Dae Jung clique to erect a "bust" of Syngman Rhee and a "memorial" for Park Chung-hee, Seoul-based radio Voice of National Salvation said.
The statement said that Syngman Rhee and Park Chung-hee were the traitors who, as servants of the United States and Japan, sold off the country and the nation and imposed untold misfortune and pain upon the people.
Kim Dae Jung clique's moves to praise them is an unpardonable anti-national criminal act against many patriots and civilians killed by such traitors, the statement said, and went on:
Kim Dae Jung's moves to call back the departed soul of Rhee and Park reveal his true colors as a pro-U.S., pro-Japanese stooge more clearly.
They are intended to bridge over the present ruling crisis and garner more votes in the coming "general elections" for the 16th-term "National Assembly."
Kim Dae Jung should immediately stop the moves, as demanded by the people, and step down from power at once.
Murder resulting from inhuman treatment
Pyongyang, January 28 (KCNA) -- Death of Kim Ryang Mu, permanent vice-chairman of the south headquarters of the National Alliance for the Country's Reunification, did not come simply due to his illness but is an outcome of the South Korean rulers' anti-reunification confrontation policy and inhuman treatment, observes Rodong Sinmun today in a signed commentary.
The South Korean authorities blocked his Pyongyang visit, turning down the north's humanitarian offer to let him receive treatment at a medical institution in the north.
Worse still, they worked hard to punish him at any cost after issuing a "warrant of arrest" to him on charges of "violating the security law."
This was a direct murder of him for they deliberately worsened his deplorable condition, much upset by his devoted service for patriotic cause of reunification, the commentary notes, and goes on:
We vehemently denounce the South Korean rulers' barbarities which caused his too early death, considering it as a grave challenge to the nation's desire for reunification, justice and humanitarianism.
They, in fact, do not belong to our nation but are anti-reunification elements keen on confrontation and division and murderers and hooligans who do not have even an iota of patriotism and humanitarianism.
The South Korean rulers can never evade responsibility for having deliberately put him to a critical condition and finally taken his life.
Large-scale joint naval exercises to be held
Pyongyang, January 28 (KCNA) -- The U.S. and South Korean authorities scheme to stage provocative large-scale joint military exercises in the sea surrounding the Korean peninsula early in February, according to a radio report from Seoul.
They said that a U.S. flotilla consisting of a nuclear aircraft carrier of latest style, aegis cruiser, 3 destroyers and 9 offensive nuclear submarines will stage "high-speed naval maneuvers," a "submarine search drill" and other military exercises together with the South Korean navy.
It is said that the U.S. nuclear aircraft carrier has already arrived at the open sea near the East Sea of Korea and aegis cruiser will call at the Pusan port in South Korea between Jan. 29 and 30.
The fact reveals once again that the U.S. and the South Korean rulers are warmongers preoccupied with war preparations against the north and the very ones who obstruct national unity and reunification.
DFRF c.c. sends letter to "NADR" in S. Korea
Pyongyang, January 28 (KCNA) -- The central committee of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland today sent a letter to the "National Alliance for Democracy and Reunification" in South Korea as regards mass killings committed by the U.S. during the last Korean War.
The mass killings of civilians were a product of intentional and premeditated acts for national obliteration, the kind that could be committed only by human butchers who were steeped in the idea of looking down upon other nations to the marrow and whose mode of existence was aggression and slaughter, the letter says, and continues:
The Korean people should square accounts with the criminal murderers on behalf of the dignity and honor of the nation.
The present situation calls upon all the Koreans, not a few victims and organisations, to turn out to make the U.S. pay a high price for the mass killings.
With a view to meeting the urgent demands of the situation we have requested the "fact-finding committee of the DFRF" that has conducted intensive investigation into the criminal atrocities of the U.S. since its foundation in the period of the last Korean War to inform political parties and organisations in South Korea including your organisation, and those of overseas Koreans of the data on mass killings by the U.S. in the North Korea and wish to keep in step with them.
Calling attention to the proposal laid down in an appeal of the DPRK political parties and organisations urging the north and south to inaugurate a "nationwide ad hoc committee for investigation into mass killings committed by GIs" so as to let all the fellow countrymen in the north, south and abroad play a main role in settling the matters related to the dignity of the nation and the sovereignty, including probe into the truth behind the mass killings, trial of criminals, punishment of pro-American traitors and compensation for damage, in the interests of the nation, we hope that your organisation will take an active step to this end.
New stamps
Pyongyang, January 28 (KCNA) -- More recently the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications has issued three stamps that deal with scenic spots of Mt. Paektu.
The stamps present the dinosaur-shaped rock, eagle-shaped rock and owl-shaped rock on the mountain.
Mt. Paektu, (its height 2,750 m) is the highest mountain in Korea. Located northeast of Samjiyon county, Ryanggang Province, it shares boundary with China.
Mt. Paektu, called the ancestral mountain, is one of Korea's five celebrated mountains. It came into being after a volcanic eruption about one million years ago. On its summit is Lake Chon, formed in the volcanic crater. Around the lake are Janggun Peak and many other peaks towering more than 2,500 metres high. Formed with pumice and covered with snow all the year round, the top of the mountain looks white, hence it got the name Mt. Paektu (white-capped mountain).
President Kim Il Sung led the long-standing anti-Japanese revolutionary war in and around the mountain to win national independence.
It better known as a symbol of the fighting spirit of Korean people.
Traditional art festival
Pyongyang, January 28 (KCNA) -- The 10th "February 16 art prize" individual contest is going on in the capital city of Pyongyang.
Participating in the finals are more than 70 professional artistes and teachers and students of art schools at all levels who were singled out through preliminaries.
The contest has traditionally been held as an art festival every year from 1991 with the auspicious February holiday as an occasion.
The Ministry of Culture, its sponsor, promotes the replenishment of artistes and the improvement of their skill through the festival.
The contest can be participated in by artistes above 17 years old from art troupes, teachers and students from art schools at all levels, overseas Korean artistes and foreign artistes as they wish.
It is divided into vocal music, instrumental music and dances and participants perform compulsories and optional.
The jury consists of doctors, professors and artistes famous in art field.
Prize winners will be awarded diplomas, medals and art degrees.
More than 3,500 people have participated in the contest so far.
Winners numbered over 300 artistes at home and overseas including people's artistes Jo Hye Gyong and Ri Yong Ok of the Mansudae Art Troupe and Choe Yong Dok and Song Jong Ae of the Kumgangsan Opera Troupe under the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan.
Among "February 16 art prize" winners are international prize winners including merited artiste Ho Kwang Su of the Mansudae Art Troupe who won a prize at the vocal solo contest of the 10th Chaykovski International Concour in 1994.
Korean people determined to glorify October
Pyongyang, January 28 (KCNA) -- The Korean people are now speeding up the general advance for the New Year, upholding the slogan "glorify this year, the WPK's 55th anniversary, with signal victory in the crucible of greatly increased activity of Chollima. "
October 10 this year marks the 55th anniversary of the foundation of the Worker's Party of Korea.
October also has a number of days of historic significance in party construction and activities.
The Down-with-Imperialism Union (DIU), the historical root of the WPK, was formed on October 17, Juche 15 (1926).
The principle of independence put forward by DIU became the principle of the construction and activity of the WPK and communists of new generation brought up by DIU were very instrumental in party founding.
The Onsong Area Party Organization, the first revolutionary party organization in the homeland, was inaugurated on October 1, Juche 19 (1930), which was a major turning-point in promoting the anti-Japanese struggle of people in the homeland in the period of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle.
The great leader Kim Jong Il was elected General Secretary of the Worker's Party of Korea on Oct. 8, Juche 86 (1997).
This event marked an epochal occasion in turning the WPK into the eternal party of its founder, the President Kim Il Sung and developing it into an invincible, powerful party.
Kim Jong Il's famous works "The Worker's Party of Korea Is the Party of the Great Leader Comrade Kim Il Sung" and "The Worker's Party of Korea Organizes and Guides All the Victories of Our People" were published in October.
That is why the Korean people are proud of working harder to glorify October.