3rd session of 10th Supreme People's Assembly to be convened
Pyongyang, March 15 (KCNA) -- The 3rd session of the 10th Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK will be convened n Pyongyang on April 4, Juche 89 (2000) according to the article 110 of the socialist constitution of the DPRK, said the March 14 decree of the presidium of the SPA of the DPRK.
Nigerian ambassador presents credentials to Kim Yong Nam
Pyongyang, March 15 (KCNA) -- Alhaji Daudu Sulaiman, newly-appointed ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Nigeria to the DPRK presented credentials to Kim Yong Nam, President of the presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK, at the Mansudae Assembly Hall today.
On hand was vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Pak Tong Chun.
The President conversed with the ambassador after receiving the credentials.
Bean paste- fermented food
Pyongyang, March 15 (KCNA) -- Bean paste is a traditional, essential staple food of Koreans.
According to ancient records, bean came into cultivation and was used for bean paste and other foodstuffs.
Bean is native to Korea, and it contains high protein, fat and other nutrients.
In Korea, bean paste was made traditionally by kneading balls of boiled and pounded bean -- a process necessary to ferment bean by mildew, yeast and other micro-organisms.
This labour some process with a long period of fermentation later underwent steady improvement.
Nutritionists have developed a new, handy way of bean-paste production by obtaining such mildew, yeast and enzymes. This method has now been introduced in bean paste factories and homes.
Recently, bean paste holds widespread attention after the scientific corroboration of its immense benefit for health, particularly as a good functional food. The functional foodstuff refers to such foods able to prevent cancer and other adult diseases hard to cure.
Bean paste is acknowledged to function as antioxidant, prevent the transmutation of cell tissues, reduce the content of cholesterol in blood, protect against radioactivity and control the multiplication virus.
Tower of Juche Idea
Pyongyang, March 15 (KCNA) -- The Tower of the Juche idea standing on the bank of the Taedong River in the central part of Pyongyang is drawing an increasing number of visitors these days.
Nearly 80 delegations from different countries and many overseas Koreans have visited it this year.
The visitors keenly feel the great attraction and vitality of the immortal Juche idea.
Built with granite blocks, the tower is 170 metres high.
It was unveiled on the occasion of the 70th birthday of the President Kim Il Sung on April 15, (Juche 71) 1982, in order to convey to posterity the ideological and theoretical contributions and revolutionary feats he made by exerting tireless efforts for the completion of the Korean revolution and the human cause of independence after founding the Juche idea.
It consists of the tower body, torch, sculptures, two huge fountains and pavilions. Its total plottage is more than 30 hectares.
The tower body is composed of 70 granite blocks, the front and the rear 18 blocks each and the two sides 17 blocks each. It was built in such a way as to represent a pile of Kim Il Sung's works. 25,550 large and small granite blocks symbolize the glorious days of his 70 year-long revolutionary activity.
The two faces, front and rear of the tower body bear the letters "Juche". The torch, 20 metres in height, serves to emphasize the effect of the burning flame. At night the illuminated torch looks like a real torch in flame.
The tower is decorated with at least 250 choice stone pieces sent by heads of state of 10 countries, personages of different social standings of over 80 countries, international organizations and Juche idea study organizations. They are inscribed with letters praising the President.
Placed in front of the tower is a group sculpture of a worker, a farmer and an intellectual holding a hammer, a sickle and a writing brush, the emblem of the Worker's Party of Korea.
There is a monument to an ode praising the revolutionary feats and benevolence of the President in front of the tower pedestal. Erected on both sides of the tower are 6 subsidiary sculptures which show the vitality of the Juche idea.
The two huge fountains send up 150-metre jets of water in the midstream of the river.
The erection of the Tower of the Juche Idea was completed in two years under the dynamic guidance of General Secretary Kim Jong Il.
Korea, land of scenic spots
Pyongyang, March 15 (KCNA) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea located in the heart of the east of the Asian continent is widely known to the world as a land of scenic spots.
Korea is renowned from old times as "golden tapestry of rivers and mountains" for its beautiful landscape, fertile soil, pure and clean water and rich natural wealth.
Its territory consists of the Korean peninsula extending southward from the north and more than 4,100 islands, large and small, around it. It is bounded on the three sides by the sea. So, it is called a maritime country.
It has an area of more than 222,200 square kilometers.
The North Korea has an area of more than 122,760 square kilometers.
The terrain is predominantly mountainous. Nearly 80 percent of the land area is mountainous.
Korea has splendid mountains and rivers.
In particular, Paektu, Kumgang, Myohyang, Chilbo, Kuwol and other mountains are well known for their beautiful landscape.
Mt. Paektu that soars imposingly in the northern tip of the country stands 2,750 metres high above sea level, the highest in Korea.
The mountain is called Mt. Paektu for its peaks look covered with white snow all the year round.
Janggun, Hyangdo, Ssangmujigae and other peaks of the mountain and Lake Chon on the top of it look like a land of mystery. The sunrise above the thick forests of the mountain of which you may command a bird's-eye view presents a spectacular sight.
Preserved in Mt. Paektu area is a time-honored native home of General Secretary Kim Jong Il. The area is associated with the history of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle of the President Kim Il Sung.
Mt. Kumgang in the east coast of Korea is, from old times, a pride of Korea and one of the noted mountains.
12,000 peaks soaring high, mysterious rocks and cliffs, pure and clean water flowing down from many ponds and pools, numerous waterfalls with a rainbow and autumn-tinted mountain present a scenery beyond description.
Besides Korea has many scenic spots, including moran hill in Pyongyang, Yaksandong Hill in North Phyongan Province, Pakyon Fall in Kaesong, Songdowon in the east coast, Monggum and Kumi ferries in the west coast.
It also has cultural remains and relics that show a long history of the nation and grand monumental edifices.
There are many famous hot springs and highly efficacious spas in different parts of the country.
Korea belongs to a typical temperate zone. The average annual temperature is 10 degrees.
The four seasons are distinct.
Single-hearted unity based on unanimous mind
Pyongyang, March 15 (KCNA) -- Single-hearted unity in the DPRK is the most solid one that is formed and steadily consolidated on the basis of the pure and clean conscience of the Korean people yearning after and sincerely following their leader, says Rodong Sinmun today in a signed article.
It continues:
The Korean people are loyal people who can not live a moment without General Secretary Kim Jong Il and yearn after him night and day.
Their noble trait of yearning after and unanimously following him is expressed in regarding it as their highest honor and greatest happiness to meet him and frankly telling him what they think in their mind.
It is the unanimous mind of the Korean people to yearn after him awake or asleep, in joy and in sorrow, singing the song "We Have Waited For You."
All the people in Korea are now sending a great number of letters representing their true hearts to their leader.
The trait of the Korean people picturing and following him can be seen in devotedly defending him.
The Korean people are recording epics of heroes devotedly defending the leader at the noblest level.
The unbreakable faith and constancy of the Korean people are well proved by the soldiers faithful to the party who defended portraits of their leader to the last at a critical moment and true loyalists and dutiful sons and daughters who exert themselves to the utmost for a long life and good health of their leader.
Nothing can shake the mind of the Korean people yearning after and following the party and the leader, which remains unchanged even after the lapse of time.
DPRK Judoka wins gold medal
Pyongyang, March 15 (KCNA) -- Kye Sun Hui, People's Sportswoman of the DPRK, won a gold medal in the women's 52 kg event of the international Judo competition for "Aral Grand Cup" which was held in the Czech Republic from March 10 to 12.
She beat her rivals from Hungary, Switzerland and Belgium through a successful application of various techniques in the preliminary and semi-final and trounced a Portuguese Judoka in the final, thus coming first in the event.
It was participated in by 420 men and women Judokas from 47 countries and regions including European a-class Judokas who competed to be qualified for the 27th Olympic games.
Papers denounce GI's killing of S. Korean woman
Pyongyang, March 15 (KCNA) -- Papers here today denounce U.S. aggressor for killing another South Korean woman a few days ago.
The continuous killings of South Korean women by the U.S. brutes are not accidental but deliberate atrocities stemming from the arrogance of the U.S. aggression troops, who are justifying themselves in beating and killing South Koreans, considering them to be nothing but "inferiors of a colony" and "field rats," says Rodong Sinmun in a signed commentary. It goes on:
The Korean nation can never forgive the U.S. aggression troops, bloodthirsty felons and brutal beasts in human skin.
The South Korean people should wage a vigorous struggle for anti-American independence in the same sturdy fighting spirit that the Korean nation demonstrated with a nation-wide anti-Japanese resistance, considering a Japanese gangster's teasing of a Korean girl student in Kwangju 70 odd years ago to be an intolerable insult to the nation.
This is the only way for them to wash the national shame, escape death and drive the U.S. cannibals out of South Korea.
Minju Joson in a signed commentary calls upon the South Korean people to turn out in the anti-U.S. struggle to make the U.S. murderers pay dearly for the blood of the Korean people.
Actions speak louder than words
Pyongyang, March 15 (KCNA) -- During his recent foreign trip the South Korean chief executive made a "speech" and released a "declaration" as regards the inter-Korean relations.
They contained not only very provocative remarks against the DPRK but very insulting words such as "blockade," "isolation" or "wild ambition."
Asking him how he would achieve reconciliation and cooperation with the north, while making such nonsense, Rodong Sinmun today in a signed commentary dismisses his remarks as a wrong behaviour in view of the national dignity.
The commentary goes on:
There was nothing new in the "declaration." He just repeated the matters which both sides had discussed at the inter-Korean vice-ministerial-level contact held in Beijing last year.
It is our consistent stand to peacefully resolve the reunification issue through the inter-Korean dialogue and negotiations.
We have clarified that if the South Korean authorities make a positive change in practice after abandoning their anti-national, anti-reunification confrontation policy to meet the expectation of the whole nation, we would open-heartedly discuss the issue related to the destiny of the nation and join hands with them to achieve reunification.
Dialogue and contact between authorities of the north and the south can take place any time if their behaviour is in line with our principled position.
Actions speak louder than words.
If the South Korean authorities truly wish the inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation, they should show their will in practice.
KCNA refutes UN Official's provocative remarks
Pyongyang, March 15 (KCNA) -- Sandro Calvani, Asian regional representative of the UN International Drug Control Program, at a recent press conference in Beijing let loose a preposterous jargon that North Korean-flagged ships are "deeply involved in drug trafficking" and "North Korea has naturally been converted into a land of drug trafficking," according to associated press.
We can not construe this otherwise than sinister remarks oblivious of his mission and code of conduct as a UN official which call for strictly observing universality and impartiality.
He just parroted a sheer fiction about the DPRK's "drug trafficking" dreamed up by the Japanese reactionaries and the "Intelligence Service," headquarters for information-gathering and plot-breeding in South Korea.
What matters is that they are keen on pulling up the DPRK over "drug trafficking" and raising it as an international "drug issue."
In a nutshell, it is intended to get the DPRK branded as a "drug trafficker" on the international arena and justify their criminal and despicable attempt to isolate and stifle it politically and economically.
The Japanese and the South Korean authorities should immediately stop the campaign to galvanize public opinion over the DPRK's "drug issue", a product of hostile and confrontation politics towards the DPRK, and the UN should not allow dishonest forces to tarnish its mission and honor.
Prompt settlement of criminal "comfort women" issue called for
Pyongyang, March 15 (KCNA) -- 10 years have passed since the truth behind the crime related to "comfort women for imperial army" was brought to light. But the issue has not yet been settled.
Rodong Sinmun today attributes this to the moves of the right-wing conservative politicians and double-faced authorities of Japan to flee from the responsibility.
The criminal "comfort women" issue is the worst violation of human rights ever known in history of humankind and a crime against ethics.
The Japanese most wantonly violated human rights and basic freedom of women and cruelly and viciously infringed upon their dignity and honor and took their lives.
Calling attention to the irrefutable proof that the past Japanese government and military worked out, organised and established the "comfort women for the army" system, the signed article says:
For a state to liquidate a state crime in a responsible manner is the requirement of an international law and the international usage.
The successive authorities of Japan have concealed the crime itself. Since the crime was opened to the public, they have left no stone unturned to flee from the responsibility for the crime.
A sinister intention to cover up and play down the crime is getting undisguised in Japan.
The moves of the Japanese authorities to bury in oblivion the crime of special nature committed only by Japan, called "comfort women for the army" issue, and evade the responsibility for the crime only betray their shamelessness and moral inferiority to the full.
With nothing Japan can flee from the responsibility.
Japan's move to promote Defence Agency to "Defence Ministry"
Pyongyang, March 15 (KCNA) -- A bill on promoting the Defence Agency to "Defence Ministry" was formally accepted at the meeting of the national defence council of the Liberal-Democratic Party of Japan on March 8.
The director-general of the Defence Agency and other officials of the agency attending the meeting said they would fully support the activities of the party to adopt the bill, describing the approval of the bill as "an action based on a deep understanding of the importance of defence".
In this regard Rodong Sinmun today in a signed commentary observes: The Japanese reactionaries' moves to promote the Defence Agency to the "Defence Ministry" are aimed to set up a military mechanism capable of providing a satisfactory guarantee for the daily intensified moves for Japan's conversion into a military power and overseas expansion, let its militarist forces assume nature and status as the state regular armed forces and thus round off preparations for its military reinvasion.
Though the Japanese reactionaries assert that their moves to have a "Defence Ministry" are intended to let "SDF" commanding officers "devotedly" work for the nation and world with pride, it is nothing but a crafty trick to hide their ulterior intention and divert elsewhere the vigilance of the people at home and abroad.
Brisk moves are now under way in the Japanese diet to replace the "present constitution" bereft of its nature and mission as a "pacifist one" by a war constitution and Japan's "defence policy" has assumed an aggressive and offensive nature pursuant to the "Japan-U.S. Defence Cooperation Guidelines," going beyond the framework of "mainland defence."
The only handicap for the Japanese reactionaries is the lack of a military mechanism capable of providing a satisfactory guarantee for the intensified moves for Japan's conversion into a military power and military overseas expansion. Their latest moves are to eliminate this.
The Japanese reactionaries are running wild to launch reinvasion, oblivious of their historical lesson, but only destruction will await them.
Japanese reactionaries hit for anti-DPRK smear campaign
Pyongyang, March 15 (KCNA) -- The central committee of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League issued on March 14 a statement denouncing the Tokyo metropolitan governor, Shintaro Ishihara, for his extremely provocative and bellicose remarks against the DPRK.
The statement said:
Lurking behind the recent anti-DPRK diatribe launched by the Japanese right-wing reactionaries through riff-raffs is a very crafty and sinister design to hush up their crimes committed in the past, highlight the ever more undisguised moves for the conversion of Japan into a military power and for overseas aggression and justify them.
Japan is chiefly responsible for the tragic national and territorial division of Korea and it is again Japan which has committed all sorts of wrong-doings to isolate and stifle Korean-style socialism for the past 55 years since World War II as a shock brigade of the imperialist allied forces.
The reckless acts of the Japanese right-wing reactionaries are an unpardonable challenge to the aspiration and desire of humankind for global peace and security.
There is a limit to the patience of the peace-loving DPRK.
The five million-strong ranks of human bombers will never tolerate the anti-DPRK row kicked up by the Japanese reactionaries.
Those who do not bother to let loose anti-DPRK outbursts still today are well advised to bear in mind it will only hasten their self-destruction.
Commanding system of S. Korean air force to be reorganized
Pyongyang, March 15 (KCNA) -- The South Korean air force is examining a plan to set up 2-3 regional commands under its operation command, under the signboard of "effective command and control", a Seoul-based radio reported.
They have quadrupled the number of planes including fighters and the scale of their units over the last nearly four decades since the "air force operation command" was set up in the 1960s. Spurs are put to readjusting and augmenting the commanding system to keep pace with the reinforcement.
While frantically stepping up the arms buildup, they are busy organizing commands for various arms and services to readjust and strengthen their command and control mechanism for a war of aggression against the north.
Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il praised in S. Korea
Pyongyang, March 15 (KCNA) -- Over 2,000 copies of literature praising the President Kim Il Sung and General Secretary Kim Jong Il were found scattered in Pangbae-dong and around the River Han in Youido, Seoul, on the afternoon of March 13, a radio report from Seoul said.
Carried in the literature, ten centimetres respectively in height and width, were a slogan lauding the two great leaders and a blueprint of the monument to the three-point charter of national reunification the construction of which is under way in Pyongyang.
Preparatory committees formed abroad
Pyongyang, March 15 (KCNA) -- Preparatory committees were formed in different countries to commemorate Sun's Day, the 88th birth anniversary of the President Kim Il Sung.
At the inaugural meeting of the Ugandan national preparatory committee held on March 10 the Minister of State for Water, Land and Environment of Uganda and the chairman of the Uganda-DPRK Friendship Association were elected co-chairmen of the committee.
The Minister of State for Water, land and environment at the inaugural meeting said that the main trend of the history development in the 20th century would have been unthinkable without the contributions of Kim Il Sung who fathered the great Juche idea and hewed out the era of independence.
An Egyptian preparatory committee was formed on March 9.
Abudulah Tayler, chairman of the economic committee of the People's Assembly of Egypt, was elected chairman of the committee.
The committee decided to organize commemoration meetings, a photo exhibition, a film show and other multifarious events.
Signature campaign of world peace organizations supported
Pyongyang, March 15 (KCNA) -- The Korean National Peace Committee in a letter to world peace organizations on March 14 expressed full support to the signature campaign conducted by the world peace organizations including "globe net", a movement for peace and disarmament, considering it to be a good occasion to draw keen attention and awareness of the world people to the U.S. criminal war moves and build up strong world public opinion calling for putting pressure on the arrogant United States.
"Globe net" and other world peace organizations are conducting a brisk worldwide signature campaign against the establishment of the U.S. "Theatre Missile Defence" system (TMD) and moves to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles targeted against the DPRK and other countries, keeping in close touch with "citizens network" for peace on the Korean peninsula and anti-war, peace organizations in South Korea.
The letter praised the movement of those organizations for peace and disarmament as just activities and expressed the expectation that they would expand and develop the signature campaign into a worldwide anti-U.S., anti-war, peace movement.
If the U.S. moves for developing ballistic missiles including the establishment of the "TMD" are left unchecked, the world will see in a new era of the Cold War again and the tragedy of the 20th century will be repeated in the 21st century, too, the letter said, adding:
The world's peace-loving forces should make concerted efforts to decisively frustrate the U.S. moves to build the "TMD" based on its ambition for world hegemony and all other criminal war maneuvers.
The Korean National Peace Committee will further strengthen international solidarity with these organizations in the struggle for checking and frustrating the U.S. moves for war of aggression in the future, too.
Jordanian national committee for study of Juche idea formed
Pyongyang, March 15 (KCNA) -- An inaugural meeting of the Jordanian National Committee for the Study of the Juche Idea was held in Amman on March 8 on the occasion of the 18th anniversary of the publication of General Secretary Kim Jong Il's famous work "On the Juche idea".
The chairman of the Jordanian Group for the Study of the Juche Philosophy in his speech at the inaugural meeting said that Kim Jong Il has constantly developed in depth the great Juche idea founded by President Kim Il Sung to give a scientific exposition of all the theoretical and practical problems required by our era and clearly indicate the road to be followed by humankind.
The national committee will study and disseminate the Juche idea with the main stress put on the study and dissemination of the famous works of Kim Jong Il and thus smoothly fulfil its noble mission, he said.
A letter to him was adopted at the meeting.
The letter said that the Juche idea is a great guiding idea which indicates the road ahead of the world people who are struggling for freedom, independence and self-reliance and against domination, subjugation and arbitrary practices by the imperialists.
The Jordanian advocates of the Juche idea will follow Kim Jong Il and advance toward the 21st century, achieving progress and prosperity, with confidence and hope.