Kim Jong Il's works released abroad

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- General Secretary Kim Jong Il's celebrated work "Mangyongdae Revolutionary School Is the Training Center of the Backbone that Will Succeed To the Juche Blood" was brought out in booklet on February 10 by the Patriot Publishing House of Russia.
    On the same day, his other work "Socialism Is a Science" was published in booklet by the Academia Publishing House of Cuba.
    His famous work "Let Us Reunify the Country Independently and Peacefully Through the Great Unity of the Entire Nation" was released in New Delhi on Feb. 9 with due ceremony.


Kim Jong Il's birthday celebrated

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- A meeting of Korean residents in Japan was held at the Korean House of Culture in Tokyo on Feb. 15 to celebrate the 58th birthday of General Secretary Kim Jong Il.
    Present at the meeting were officials of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) including So Man Sul, first vice-chairman of its central standing committee, and compatriots.
    Making a report at the meeting, So Man Sul said historic February enabled the Korean people to enjoy blessing with the illustrious leaders generation after generation. The Marshal has performed great immortal feats for the times and history, wisely leading the cause of Juche to victory, he stressed.
    The reporter further said:
    Kim Jong Il is a great teacher and a benevolent father who is leading Chongryon and Korean residents in Japan along the road of victory and glory. He has shown warm love and deep solicitude for the Koreans in Japan, indicating the bright road for Chongryon to follow.
    The reporter called upon Chongryon officials and Koreans in Japan to achieve successes in their patriotic work with the unshakable will and faith that only when they are true to the ideas and leadership of Kim Jong Il, will they surely win.
    A celebration banquet was given at the Korean hall in Tokyo on the same day.


Greetings to Gambia President

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- Kim Yong Nam, President of the presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, sent a message of greetings to Gambia President Yaya A.J.J. Jammeh on Feb. 14 on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the independence of his country.
    In the message Kim wished the Gambia President and people great success in their work for national prosperity and development, and expressed the belief that the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries would continue to develop on good terms.


Collection of Kim Jong Il's works off the press

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- The Worker's Party of Korea Publishing House brought out "the Movement of Koreans in Japan and the Task of Chongryon," a collection of General Secretary Kim Jong Il's works, on the occasion of his birthday.
    The collection deals with 29 works including speeches, talks, and letters published by Kim Jong Il from May Juche 52 (1963) to May Juche 87 (1998).
    Comprehended in it are his profound ideas and theories on the Juche-based overseas compatriots movement, including highly important guidelines and strategic and tactical policies he advanced for the movement of Koreans in Japan and the work of Chongryon (General Association of Korean Residents in Japan).


Floral basket to Kim Jong Il

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- General Secretary Kim Jong Il received a basket of flowers from the visiting delegation of Jilin Yuwen Middle School of China on the occasion of his birthday.
    The basket was handed to an official concerned by head of the delegation Cheng Qi, who is vice-director of the school.


Lebanese intellectuals study Juche idea

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- A Group of Lebanese Intellectuals for the Study of the Juche Idea was inaugurated at the building of the Nationalist Socialist Party of Syria in Lebanon on Feb. 9 in the run-up to the birthday of General Secretary Kim Jong Il.
    At the inaugural meeting, Antwan Goraib, chairman and secretary general of the party, said the Juche idea shows the road ahead of the people in struggle for freedom, independence, progress and prosperity and encourages their struggle.
    The inauguration of the group, he said, is intended to study the Juche idea and the DPRK's experience gained through its application and distribute them among people of different social standings and thus achieve national sovereignty and territorial integrity and build a free and prosperous Lebanon.
    Goraib was selected chairman of the group at the meeting.
    A letter to Kim Jong Il was adopted there.


Taekwon-do club inaugurated in Madagascar

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- The Antsirabe, Madagascar, Taekwon-do club was formed with due ceremony in Antsirabe city on Feb. 5 on the occasion of the birthday of General Secretary Kim Jong Il.
    Speakers there said it is great honor of all Antsirabe citizens to form this club in the run-up to Kim Jong Il's birthday.
    They said they would learn Taekwon-do assiduously to display the city's honor of having the great leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il as honorary citizens.
    The mayor of the city was elected honorary chairman of the club.


Chinese crewmen celebrate Kim Jong Il's birthday

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- Chinese crewmen met at Haeju port on Feb. 16 to celebrate the 58th birthday of General Secretary Kim Jong Il.
    Present at the meeting were captains and crewmen of the Chinese ships Luwenshui-9, Jinfa and Luwenyu 3161.
    Speakers praised Kim Jong Il as a peerlessly great man who is leading the Korean people and the world's revolutionary people along the road of victory with his outstanding and seasoned leadership art.
    They stressed that he rallied the Korean people as one in mind with the politics based on love and trust and the army-first politics and decisively smashed with that strength of the unity the imperialists' isolation and suffocation moves, thus proudly defending the dignity and honor of socialist Korea.
    The world's revolutionary people are now highly praising him as an outstanding leader who will sail the 21st century, they noted, and said: He, a great man, enjoys the deepest trust, love and respect from hundred millions of peoples the world over.
    Saying that he is wisely leading the people with the lines of giving importance to ideology, arms and science and technology, to honor the DPRK, they stressed: Under his wise leadership Korea will surely be reunified and the Korean people's cause of building a powerful nation realised without fail.


Congratulatory letter from Ri In Mo

   Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- General Secretary Kim Jong Il on February 16 received a congratulatory letter from Ri In Mo, the incarnation of faith and will, on the occasion of his birthday.
    In the letter, he wrote that the birth of Kim Jong Il, the illustrious commander born of Mt. Paektu, was an auspicious event that promised the present reality of the socialist country prospering and developing on this land and a bright future of the Korean nation.
    The letter continued:
    You, while leading the revolution and construction with the idea of attaching great importance to the military as your maxim, are giving ceaseless on-the-spot guidance to units of the Korean People's Army, leaving immortal footprints for army-first leadership there. As a result, our country is making a big stride forward towards a bright future of a powerful nation.
    If you had not defended our country with arms at the head of our people, our country and nation would have met a miserable doom long ago at the hands of the imperialists.
    The immovable truth that I learned while participating in many battles as a war correspondent during the fatherland liberation war and during 34 years of my life in prison in the subsequent period was that the country, people and the revolution can be defended only with arms.
    Noting that the spirit of Kim Jong Il is the spirit of Korea and his longevity in good health represents an eternal happiness of all the Korean people, Ri In Mo sincerely wished him a long life in good health.


Congratulatory letter to Kim Jong Il

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- General Secretary Kim Jong Il received a congratulatory letter from O Ik Je, vice-chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, on Feb. 16 on the occasion of his birthday.
    Noting that Kim Jong Il was born, endowed with the spirit of Mt. Paektu, the holy mountain of Tangun nation, O Ik Je wrote this was not only a great fortune for the sun's nation but a happy and auspicious event for humankind in which they greeted the rise of a brilliant sun over the horizon of their new history.
    He praised Kim Jong Il as a mythical hero who, representing the resourcefulness of our nation whose history spanning 5,000 years, firmly guarantees its existence and prosperity, guided by Juche, to give continuity to its development.
    He continued:
    A strong independent state has been built as a result of the realization of the long-cherished desire of the nation, on the basis of the bitter lesson drawn from the centuries of national sufferings, and our republic is demonstrating the justice of our cause to the whole world, courageously standing in confrontation with big powers, with the might of the single-hearted unity. All this would have been unthinkable without your idea and leadership.
    Today your idea and leadership are visualizing a bright future of the 21st century to come as they proved to be excellent in the world.
    Noting that thanks to Kim Jong Il there is always spring for the nation and humankind, O Ik Je wholeheartedly wished him a long life in good health.


Special computer program "congratulations on birthday February 16"

   Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- The South Korean Hanna Computer Society reportedly sent "special computer program 'congratulations on birthday February 16'" to General Secretary Marshal Kim Jong Il on the occasion of the significant February 16.
    The program of 2 minutes 16 seconds carries the pictures of the three commanders of Mt. Paektu and contents that with his birthday a new life of South Korean people will be brought into full bloom and national reunification be achieved.
    And it also shows his portrait on the sea of blooming flowers on Mt. Hanna, wishing him a long life in good health.


Talks held between WPK and good green Guyana

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- Talks between Kim Jung Rin, secretary of the Central Committee of the Worker's Party of Korea, and Hamilton Green, leader of the Good Green Guyana, were held in Pyongyang on Feb. 17.
    At the talks, the two sides informed each other of the activities of their parties and exchanged views on the development of friendly relations between the two parties and a series of matters of mutual concern.
    The talks proceeded in a friendly atmosphere.


Congratulatory letter to Kim Jong Il

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- General Secretary Kim Jong Il received a congratulatory letter from sports groups of different countries which participated in the 9th Paektusan Cup International Figure Skating Festival on February 16.
    The letter said that the participation in the festival with the Korean sports men and women for celebrating the birthday of Kim Jong Il was the great pride for them and a good occasion for deepening friendship and solidarity among athletes.
    The letter said:
    We came to know well during our visit that as they are under your seasoned leadership the Korean people are making great successes in physical culture and sports and other fields and building Korea into a more powerful country.
    The letter expressed the firm belief that the Korean people are now undergoing temporary difficulties but they will surely build a powerful nation of Juche overcoming all hardships under the outstanding leadership of Kim Jong Il.


A room arranged for true records of five-year revolution

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- A room for showing the last five-year career of revolution of General Secretary Kim Jong Il newly fixed up at the Korean Revolutionary Museum on the occasion of the holiday of February.
    The room consists of three parts: The first part of the realization of the cause of perpetrating leader's memory showing the great leader's noble and endless world of loyalty and filial piety to the former leader, the second part showing that he consolidated the base of the Korean revolution as an invincible fortress under his army-first guidance of revolution and the third part of his appointment at the head of the Worker's Party of Korea and the revolution.
    Displayed in the room are over 300 pieces of historical evidences including his photos, famous works, revolutionary documents of his exploits, revolutionary relics and records.
    As this room fixed up the Korean nation could hand down the century-old exploits of revolution achieved by Kim Jong Il before the fatherland and people, era and the revolution who upheld the majesty and honor of Kim Il Sung's nation in the adversity of the harsh ordeals unparalleled in history.


Song and dance performance of art troupe of Koreans in Japan

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- A song and dance performance of the art troupe of Koreans in Japan to celebrate Feb. 16 titled "Earnest Wishes of 700,000 Koreans in Japan" was given yesterday at the Pyongyang Grand Theatre.
    Kim Yong Nam, President of the presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, Choe Thae Bok, secretary of the C.C. of the Worker's Party of Korea, Kim Yong Dae, chairman of the c.c. of the Korean Social Democratic Party, Ryu Mi yong, chairperson of the c.c. of the Korean Chondoist Chongu Party, and delegations of overseas compatriots and overseas Koreans appreciated the performance.
    The performers vividly showed the loyalty and filial piety of the 700,000 Koreans in Japan wishing General Secretary Kim Jong Il comfort and a long life in good health and the high spiritual world of Koreans in Japan living with the Korean nation-first spirit.
    That day, Kim Yong Nam met leading officials and major actors and actresses of the art troupe of Koreans in Japan.


Joint meeting to celebrate birthday of Kim Jong Il

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- A joint meeting for celebrating the 58th birthday of General Secretary Kim Jong Il was held at the Pyongyang International House of Culture on Feb. 17.
    Present at the meeting together with working people in the city were foreign party delegations and delegates and a delegation of the International Institute of the Juche Idea on a visit to Korea to congratulate him on his birthday.
    Choe Thae Bok, alternate member of the political bureau and secretary of the Central Committee of the Worker's Party Korea, said in his speech that Kim Jong Il embarked on the road of revolution in his early years and performed immortal exploits on behalf of the fatherland and people, the era and revolution.
    Under his wise leadership the workers' party and people of Korea, the speaker noted, will bring a decisive turning-point in building a powerful socialist country by making new leaping progress in the revolution and construction.
    The meeting was addressed by V. Tyulkin, first secretary of the central committee of the Communist Worker's Party of Russia who is heading the delegation, Hannu Harju, chairman of the Communist Worker's Party of Finland for Peace and Socialism who is heading the delegation, Hamilton Green, leader of the Good Green Guyana, Serei Kosal, deputy secretary general of the Funcinpec Party of Cambodia who is heading the delegation, and Kenichi Ogami, secretary general of the International Institute of the Juche Idea.
    Hasanul Huq Inu, general secretary of the National Socialist Party of Bangladesh, recited a poem he wrote by himself on the occasion of the birthday of Kim Jong Il.
    He said in the poem that Kim Jong Il is identical to Kim Il Sung and he is the defender of the socialist cause and justice. He extended highest glory and best wishes for a long life in good health to Kim Jong Il, the bright sun of the 21st century.
    Kim Chang Ryong, general of the Korean People's Army, and Kim Kyong Ho, secretary of the central committee of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League, made speeches at the meeting.
    An art performance was given at the meeting.


Indian national seminar on Juche idea

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- An Indian national seminar on the Juche idea for global peace, progress and prosperity was held in New Delhi on Feb. 9 to mark the 58th birthday of General Secretary Kim Jong Il.
    The seminar was cosponsored by the Indian national preparatory committee for celebrating February 16, the Asian Regional Institute of the Juche Idea and Juche idea study organizations of India.
    Romesh Chandra, honorary president of the World Peace Council, made an opening address at the seminar. Then followed a report by Vishwanath, secretary general of the ARIJI.
    The reporter noted that President Kim Il Sung founded the great Juche idea to start the era of Juche and General Secretary Kim Jong Il has further developed and enriched it, thus victoriously advancing the popular masses' cause of independence for global peace, progress and prosperity.
    Their immortal feats represent the greatest accomplishment by the progressive humankind in the 20th century, he said.
    He said:
    Kim Jong Il advanced many ideas and theories, embodiment of the Juche idea developed in depth in conformity with the new circumstance of history. For their originality, truthfulness and revolutionary nature, his ideas and theories are a precious sword for a brilliant victory of the cause of independence, the cause of socialism, and a banner that should be put up by mankind in the 21st century.
    He is a great man of rare caliber who is applying the Juche idea into realities, a master of leadership with veteran and tested leadership art, brilliant strategy, distinguished organizing ability, and strong sweep and a genius of creation and construction.
    Today the struggle to defend Korean socialism is immediately the struggle to defend the Juche idea and the socialist cause and achieve independence, peace, progress and prosperity of the world.
    Calling for more vigorous campaign for international solidarity with the Korean people's struggle, the reporter said the cause of independence of mankind advancing under the banner of the Juche idea is invincible.
    A congratulatory message to Kim Jong Il was adopted at the seminar.


Kimjongilia Show

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- The 4th Kimjongilia Show has drawn capacity visitors since it was open in the Pyongyang International House of Culture in the central part of Pyongyang on Feb. 14.
    On display there in peculiar and diverse styles are at least 4,500 immortal Kimjongilias contributed by more than 50 organizations in the capital city and local areas, including the Ministry of the People's Armed Forces, the Ministry of Public Security, the Academy of Sciences and the Central Botanical Garden.
    The Ministry of the People's Armed Forces exhibited Kimjongilias against the backdrop of the Portrait of General Secretary Kim Jong Il with a bright smile on his face in the uniform of Marshal displayed in the center and letters "long live Marshal Kim Jong Il, the sun in the 21st century " seen on the left is the truthfully depicted fluttering flag of the Supreme Commander.
    The more than 580 immortal flowers on display were cultivated with great care by the officers and men of the KPA who are stalwartly standing guard over the sky, the land and the sea. They look like a huge floral basket.
    The academy of sciences arranged its exhibition against the background of the pictures of Jong Il Peak and the native home in the secret camp on Mt. Paektu. A revolving huge globe is decorated with over 120 Kimjongilias and other rare flowers.
    A red ribbon bearing the letters "I attach great importance to science. Kim Jong Il" hanging from the globe is illuminated with more than 2,500 electronic lamps.
    Displayed before it are materials on tissue culture of the flower.
    The central botanical garden displayed a photograph of the President Kim Il Sung seeing Kimjongilia, while exhibiting hundreds of flowers flanked by letters "celebration of February 16" and "best wishes" on both sides.
    Also displayed there are Kimjongilias contributed by the "Dandong Kimjongilia Hothouse" of China and the Pyongyang mission of the National Democratic Front of South Korea.


Mass foundation for party building

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- The mass foundation for building the Worker's Party of Korea was laid and consolidated during the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle (1925-1945).
    Korean communists worked hard to awaken the masses to consciousness and unite them in organizations in the rigorous period of the armed struggle, the main trend of revolution at that time.
    The President Kim Il Sung dispatched a number of political underground workers to all parts of the country during the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle so that they might conduct political work among the masses to lay mass foundation for founding the party. They formed mass organizations across the country to rally the masses.
    The work of building the mass ground for party foundation was carried out in close relation to the anti-Japanese national united front movement.
    The President founded the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland on May 5, 1936, involving people from all walks of life who were against Japanese imperialism. This was a historic event in strengthening the mass ground for the party foundation.
    The network of the association rapidly spread out to areas around the Amnok and Tuman rivers, different parts of Korea and even to residential quarters of Koreans in Manchuria and Japan. Organizations under the association which were formed under various names according to local specific conditions involved at least 200,000 people of different social standings -- workers, farmers, students, urban petty-bourgeoisie, nationalists and patriotic religionists.
    The President dispatched excellent party members to leading posts of sub-organizations at all levels and enlisted commanding officers and members of the main forces of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army into those sub-organizations. Therefore, the association played an important role in consolidating the mass ground of the party as well as organizing the masses of broad sections in the anti-Japanese struggle.
    This mass ground laid during the anti-Japanese struggle was one of important factors of founding the WPK in a less than two months after the liberation of the country (August 1945).


Kim Jong Il's birthday celebrated abroad

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- Koreans in China held a meeting on Feb. 14 in Beijing to mark General Secretary Kim Jong Il's 58th birthday.
    At the meeting a letter to Kim Jong Il was adopted.
    A meeting was held on Feb. 13 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, under the sponsorship of the International United Confederation of Koreans.
    The participants saw an art performance given by an overseas Koreans' art troupe "Osandok".


Friendly meeting held

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- A friendly meeting was held at the Taedonggang club for the diplomatic corps yesterday on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the friendly relations between Changdok school in Pyongyang and Yuwen middle school in Jilin, China.
    Invited there were the members of the delegation of the Yuwen middle school in Jilin, China, headed by vice-director Cheng Qi and councilor of the Chinese embassy in Pyongyang Liu Bingyi.
    It was attended by hong son ok, vice-chairperson of the Korean Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries who is also vice-chairperson of the central committee of the Korea-China Friendship Association, and other personages concerned, vice-director Rim Jae Min and other teachers and pupils of Changdok school.
    The participants appreciated an art performance given by pupils and had amusement games.
    They talked with each other, deepening the feelings of friendship.


Gifts to Kim Jong Il from foreign party and party delegation

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- General Secretary Kim Jong Il received gifts from the Good Green Guyana and a delegation of the Greater Romanian Party.
    The gifts were handed to an official concerned by Hamilton Green, leader of the Good Green Guyana, and Dorin Lazar Maior, vice-president of the Greater Romanian Party who is also head of its delegation, on a visit to the DPRK.


Senior DPRK officials meet foreign delegations

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- Senior DPRK officials met with visiting foreign delegations.
    Choe Thae Bok, alternate politburo member and secretary of the Central Committee of the Worker's Party of Korea, today met and conversed separately with Hasanul Huq Inu, general secretary of the National Socialist Party of Bangladesh, and a delegation of the Funcinpec Party of Cambodia led by its deputy secretary general Serei Kosal, and Kim Ki Nam, secretary of the WPK Central Committee, with a delegation of the Union of Communist Parties-the Communist Party of the Soviet Union led by its member of the council of the union Vladimir Tolstikov.
    Yang Hyong Sop, vice-president of the presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly and chairman of the Korean Social Scientists Society, today met with a delegation of the International Institute of the Juche Idea led by its secretary general Kenichi Ogami.
    On the 17th, Kim Yong Nam, politburo member of the WPK Central Committee and President of the presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, met with a delegation of the Communist Worker's Party of Finland for Peace and Socialism headed by its chairman Hannu Harju, Choe Thae Bok with a delegation of the Unified Communist Party of Italy headed by member of the party leadership Pasqufale Felice, and Kim Ki Nam with a delegate of the October 8 Revolutionary Movement of Brazil Paulo Eduardo, secretary of the c.c. of the movement.
    The general secretary of the National Socialist Party of Bangladesh said that the Korean people are firmly defending socialism despite the ceaseless isolation and suffocation moves of the imperialists, thanks to the invincible vitality of the Juche idea which was fathered by the great leader Kim Il Sung and has been developed and enriched by Kim Jong Il.
    The deputy secretary general of the Funcinpec Party of Cambodia said that the President Kim Il Sung is the eternal leader not only of the Korean people but also of the world revolutionary people. Today Marshal Kim Jong Il is leading the Korean people to a victory, fully personifying the idea and traits of the President, he added.
    The chairman of the Communist Worker's Party of Finland for Peace and Socialism said that the army-first politics is unique just politics under the present situation. He noted that his party would extend full support and solidarity to the workers' party and people of Korea in their dynamic struggle to defend socialism.


Jail sentences passed on pro-reunification champions

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- The South Korean ruling quarters on Feb. 15 sentenced two persons including Ra Chang sun, advisor to the south headquarters of the National Alliance for the Country's Reunification, to two years and six months in prison and two years of suspension of qualification each under the "security law," a Seoul-based radio reported. The charge brought against them was that they visited Pyongyang to participate in the grand pan-national pro-reunification festival last year.
    They also sentenced Hwang Hye Ro, who visited the north in the capacity of a delegate of the South Korean Federation of University Student Councils that represents the south headquarters of the National Alliance of Youth and Students for the Country's Reunification, to two years and six months in jail, and three persons including Kang Hyong Gu, a deputy spokesman for the National Alliance for Democracy and Reunification, to two years and six months in prison and three years of suspension of sentence each.
    In the "decision" they charged them with making a secret visit to the north on the order of someone.


U.S. assailed for its massive arms buildup

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- Recently, Henry Shelton, chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff, confessed the fact that the U.S. has massively beefed up its forces in South Korea and the "ROK" army under the pretext of meeting the "challenge of North Korea."
    Rodong Sinmun today in a signed commentary observes this is a clear indication that the U.S. wild ambition to militarily stifle the DPRK remains unchanged and it is the arch criminal harassing the peace and security and escalating the tensions on the Korean peninsula.
    The commentary continues:
    The U.S. is paying lip-service to the "improved relations" with the DPRK, pretending to be interested in "guaranteeing peace and security" at multi-faceted contacts and dialogues with it. But it is nothing but a trite double-dealing trick to cover up its aggressive nature.
    The U.S. is apt to talk about "peace" whenever it sits face to face with the DPRK but, no sooner had it left the conference room than it hatched a plot to hurt the latter and accelerated its moves to put it into practice.
    The massive arms buildup disclosed by Shelton recently was a premeditated and intentional action to make the second Korean war a fait accompli and put it into practice.
    It is foolish of the U.S. to try to justify its aggressive maneuvers under the absurd pretext of the non-existent "threat" from the DPRK.
    If the enemy recklessly unleash a war of aggression, they will not escape from merciless and deadly blows.
    The U.S. is well advised to listen to our warning and immediately halt its reckless arms buildup.


Attempt to twist history of Japan's occupation of Korea

    Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- Rodong Sinmun today in a signed article rails against the Japanese reactionaries for asserting that the Japanese imperialists' occupation of Korea was not one by military forces.
    Pointing out that they cited the "treaties" and "agreements" fabricated by the Japanese imperialists between 1905 and 1910 to support their argument, the article dismissed this as a brazen-faced attempt to justify their military occupation of Korea.
    The article continues:
    It was clearly proved by undeniable historical facts and legal evidence that the Japanese imperialists occupied Korea by force of arms.
    The "five-point treaty of 1905," which the Japanese imperialists claimed to be a basic document that provided for their occupation of Korea, did not have any legal justification as it was of their own making.
    The treaty which the Japanese used as a basic framework for "annexing Korea" did not conform to any legal requirements of the treaty.
    It was a sheer fabrication in contravention of procedures for the conclusion of an international treaty.
    Any international treaty should be drafted and an agreement be reached on it after getting an formal approval of the state and signed by a representative invested with full authority.
    However, that treaty was not made with the approval of the state. Ko Jong, king of the country at that time, objected to the conclusion of the treaty to the last moment, stating he could not approve its conclusion as it meant leading the country to a ruin.
    After its fabrication, the Japanese presented it to the king of Korea for ratification many a time but in vain.
    Under this situation the diet of Japan could not ratify the treaty.
    The treaty was not properly written in a legal style but was full of aggressive words wantonly encroaching upon the sovereignty of Korea.
    It also lacked a proper title because Japan could not reach a formal agreement with Korea, the other contracting party.
    Generally, it was called "five-point treaty of 1905" as it was fabricated in 1905 and contained five points. But the Japanese side gave different titles to it such as "Japan-Korea agreement", "new Japan-Korea agreement" and the "treaty on negotiations between Japan and Korea." The "treaty" also contained criminal points that called for depriving Korea of diplomatic rights and interfering in her internal affairs. The "treaty" was a criminal document fabricated by the Japanese imperialists at the point of bayonet.
    On November 17, 1905, the day when the treaty was concluded, the Japanese imperialists ordered the commander of the Japanese army stationed in Korea and the provost Marshal to throw many soldiers and military policemen into the venue of the cabinet meeting where the treaty was to be concluded to keep a watch over its conclusion.
    The UN Commission on International Law clearly stated in 1963 that there were only four treaties in the world among many international treaties which lacked legal validity from the very time of the conclusion and the "five-point treaty of 1905" was one of them.
    Branding the Japanese imperialists as the aggressor who occupied Korea by force of arms, the article concludes that the Japanese reactionaries can never twist the history of their military occupation of Korea.



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