Greetings to Bangladeshi President
Pyongyang, March 25 (KCNA) -- President Kim Yong Nam of the presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly today sent a message of greetings to President Shahabuddin Ahmed of the People's Republic of Bangladesh on the occasion of the 29th anniversary of the independence of Bangladesh.
The message extends warm congratulations to the Bangladeshi President and people on the 29th anniversary of the independence of Bangladesh and expresses conviction that the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries will further expand and develop in various domains.
It sincerely wishes the President great success in his work for the nation's progress and prosperity.
Youth league delegation off to China
Pyongyang, March 25 (KCNA) -- A delegation of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League led by first secretary Ri Il Hwan left here today for a visit to China.
It was seen off at the airport by secretary Pak Chi Ung of the league central committee and Li Bin, charge d' affaires ad interim of the Chinese embassy here.
3rd national meeting of agitators held
Pyongyang, March 25 (KCNA) -- The 3rd national meeting of agitators was held at the April 25 House of Culture here from March 24 to 25.
The meeting reviewed the successes and experience gained by agitators in mass political work by implementing the Juche-based policy on agitation put forward by the Worker's Party of Korea and discussed tasks before them to improve and strengthen the party agitation in keeping with the requirements of the developing Korean revolution in order to fully prepare party members and other working people as revolutionary soldiers loyal to the party and powerfully encourage them in the drive to build a powerful nation.
Present at the meeting were Kim Yong Nam, member of the political bureau of the WPK Central Committee and President of the presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, secretaries of the C.C., the WPK Kim Ki Nam and Kim Jung Rin and others and over 6,000 exemplary agitators and party propagandists at all levels.
Prior to the meeting, its participants heard the recorded speech "agitators must set an example in all work and know how to rouse the masses to action" delivered by the President Kim Il Sung at the national conference of the active agitators and the propagandists each in charge of five families on March 9, Juche 60 (1971). In the speech he underlined the position and importance of the party agitation and clearly laid down the mission and tasks of the agitators.
The Central Committee of the WPK in its congratulatory message to the participants highly praised the agitators for their great successes made in the mass political work by implementing the party's Juche-based policy on agitation and put forward concrete tasks to be fulfilled by them in carrying out the cause of building a powerful nation.
A report was made by Choe Chun Hwang, first vice department director of the WPK Central Committee, at the meeting to be followed by speeches.
The reporter and speakers reviewed with pride the great achievements made in agitation in the past thanks to the great leader Kim Jong Il's outstanding idea of agitation, his unique agitation policy and wise leadership.
They referred to ways of implementing the tasks before the agitators to energetically rouse the working people from all walks of life to the second grand Chollima advance and thus glorify the year 2000 as a year of a leaping advance.
They called for holding fast to the line of giving importance to ideology, the military and science and technology and concentrating agitation on its implementation.
Poster of second Kimilsungia Show printed
Pyongyang, March 25 (KCNA) -- Poster of the 2nd Kimilsungia Show to be open in Pyongyang on the occasion of Sun's Day, the birth anniversary of the Kim Il Sung, has been printed.
Pictured in the poster is Kimilsungia bearing the august name of the great leader, a great man born of heaven, against the background of Mangyongdae, a holy land of revolution where the sun of Juche rose up.
Written in the upper part of the poster are letters "the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung will always be with us" and in the lower part are letters "the 2nd Kimilsungia Show" and the period of the show at the Pyongyang International House of Culture that will last from April 12 to 17, Juche 89 (2000).
Talks between S. Korean and Japanese "ministers of education"
Pyongyang, March 25 (KCNA) -- The South Korean authorities showed a humiliating posture toward Japan again at the talks between the South Korean and Japanese "ministers of education" held in Seoul on March 20, according to a radio report from Seoul.
Now the Japanese reactionaries say in textbooks on history distributed to schools at all levels that there was no ancient Korea, the first state, and that Japan ruled over Kaya till the mid-sixth century. Their distortion of history includes embellishing Japan's aggression on Korea as "annexation."
Despite the South Korean people's resolute protest against this fact, the South Korean authorities did not include the distorted of Korean history in Japanese textbooks in the agenda at the talks between "ministers of education."
At the talks the South Korean rulers raised only the issue of increasing the number of South Korean students studying in Japan and the issue of building their dormitories to curry favour with the opposite side.
Japanese reactionaries' military drill against DPRK
Pyongyang, March 25 (KCNA) -- The Japanese Maritime Safety Agency committed a large-scale military drill in the East Sea of Korea near to Niigata Prefecture under simulated conditions of "intrusion into territorial waters" on March 23, according to a news report.
The drill was launched one year after they faked up the "mysterious ship pursuit case" against the DPRK on March 23 last year.
Participating in the drill were 7 warships, 3 airplanes and 230 military personnel.
Japanese hit for legislating on "local suffrage"
Pyongyang, March 25 (KCNA) -- The central committee of the Korean Democratic Women's Union on Friday made public a statement condemning the Japanese reactionaries for scheming in the extreme to legislate on "local suffrage."
The Japanese political circles' attempt to legislate on "suffrage" is a premeditated political plot to stamp out the national character of Korean citizens in Japan and separate them from the DPRK to assimilate them to "Japanese," the statement said, and went on:
The Japanese reactionaries, in conspiracy with the South Korean authorities, are forcing Korean compatriots in Japan by dint of "suffrage" to divest themselves of the DPRK nationality and acquire South Korean citizenship. This is an open criminal act of ignoring the DPRK government with hostility, which touches off the national indignation and resentment of all the Korean people.
The central committee of the Korean Democratic Women's Union vehemently denounces the Japanese reactionaries' playing with "local suffrage" as a gross encroachment upon the democratic national rights and interests of Korean citizens in Japan and a base plot to undermine Chongryon (the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan), a dignified overseas citizens' organisation of the DPRK.
Strict observance of navigation order called for
Pyongyang, March 25 (KCNA) -- The U.S. and the South Korean ruling quarters should respect the Military Demarcation Line at the West Sea which commands the unanimous sympathy of the public at home and abroad and strictly observe the instituted navigation order, demands Rodong Sinmun today in a signed commentary.
The commentary says:
The navy command of the Korean People's Army proclaimed the order of navigation to and from the five islands located in the waters north of the MDL at the west sea as a follow-up measure related to the fixing of the line. This order clearly stipulates that the newly designated waterways and navigation zones shall not be waters of the U.S. forces side.
Our proclamation of the "order of navigating to and from five islands" is an expression of our peace-loving and magnanimous stand on preventing conflicts at the west sea and a new war and affording convenience in islanders' life, the commentary notes, and goes on:
The "Northern Limit Line" was unilaterally drawn by the U.S. and the South Korean authorities in violation of the Armistice Agreement and the international law. This constitutes a grave infringement upon the dignity and sovereignty of the DPRK.
Pointing out that the declaration of this order serves as an initiative to prevent the recurrence of military conflicts between the two sides in any case and defuse the tensions in these waters under the situation where the U.S. forces side refuses to seek a negotiated settlement of the issue, the commentary goes on:
The U.S. and the South Korean ruling quarters should desist from insisting on the "Northern Limit Line" any longer.
Our revolutionary armed forces solemnly declared they would strongly retaliate against them without warnings if they grossly breach the "order of navigating to and from the five islands." Should the warmongers at home and abroad dare challenge our efforts to prevent clashes at the west sea and preserve peace and security there, the revolutionary armed forces of Korea will throw them into the deep sea to be buried there.
S. Korean students' struggle against increase of registration fee
Pyongyang, March 25 (KCNA) - South Korean students are all out in a struggle against the increase of registration fee, according to a news report from Seoul.
The South Korean Federation of University Student Councils held a press conference at Hanyang University on March 21 and urged the authority to ensure finance for education to honor its commitments in the "Presidential Election" campaign and withdraw the unreasonable increase of registration fee from universities.
Students under the General Student Council of Kyongbuk National University held a rally in Taegu to check the increase of registration fee before making a protest March.
Students of Ehwa Women's University went on an indefinite sit-in strike in the campus in protest against the increase of registration fee.
Students of Yonsei, Kyunghee, Sungsil, Sungkyunkwan and other universities vowed to stay away from classes in protest against the unreasonable increase of registration fee.
U.S. intention to increase tensions under fire
Pyongyang, March 25 (KCNA) -- Minju Joson today in a signed commentary dismisses the outbursts let loose by the U.S. Defense Secretary, the commander of the U.S. forces in South Korea and other warmongers in a bid to justify their military presence in Asia as an intention to deliberately increase the tensions there.
The U.S. is busy peddling the fiction of "North Korea threat" while dispatching its military bosses to Asia on the basis of its judgement that there is a crack in its great Asia strategy, the commentary observes, and goes on:
For all its reiteration of the "need" for the U.S. military presence in Asia under the pretext of "threat" from the DPRK, it can never hide its aggressive design.
There is no justification for the U.S. to keep its aggression forces in other countries.
The U.S. should stop making futile effort and pull out all its aggression forces from South Korea and other regions of Asia as soon as possible.