Delegation of KEDO arrives
Pyongyang, December 9 (KCNA) -- A delegation of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) arrived today by air to participate in the high-ranking specialist negotiations between the DPRK and KEDO.
Congratulations to Belarussian FM
Pyongyang, December 9 (KCNA) -- DPRK Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun sent a message of greetings to Mikhail Mikhailovich Khbostov on his appointment as deputy prime minister and Foreign Minister of Belarus.
He in the message expressed belief that the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries would grow stronger in the interests of the two peoples and wished him success in his responsible work.
Spokesman of GFTUK c.c. refers to inter-Korean workers' seminar
Pyongyang, December 9 (KCNA) -- A spokesman of the central committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea (GFTUK) today issued a statement in connection with the highly disturbing atmosphere created in South Korea as regards the north-south workers' grand seminar for reunification.
The statement said:
"The north-south workers' grand seminar for reunification for implementing the June 15 north-south joint declaration" is slated to be held on Mt. Kumgang from Dec. 12 to 15. This will be the first seminar in history to be attended by representatives of the workers of the north and south.
The GFTUK is close to completing its preparations for the seminar according to the agreement it had reached on all the issues related to the seminar with the "South Korean Confederation of Trade Unions" (KCTU) and the "Federation of South Korean Trade Unions" (FSKTU).
The South Korean authorities are reported to have prevented Ri Kyu Jae, chairman for reunification of the KCTU, from attending the seminar though he was elected delegate of the south side to it.
In this connection, the KCTU is struggling for the attendance of all the members of the delegation of the south side. And it resolutely declared that all of them will not participate in the seminar unless its demand is met.
There is no reason to bar ri from attending it.
The South Korean authorities are only making such an ambiguous excuse as he is under "investigation according to the Security Law," failing to clarify specified reasons for disallowing his visit to the north.
Ri is well known to the workers and other people in the north as he made a great contribution to the solidarity and unity between the workers in the north and the south by visiting Pyongyang as a representative of the KCTU and successfully holding the "north-south football matches for reunification" last year.
What he did was for the unity of the workers in the north and south and reunification.
The central committee of the GFTUK considers the South Korean authorities' disallowance of Ri's participation in the seminar as a deliberate obstruction to it and strongly urges them to immediately withdraw this measure.
It is hardly understandable for the South Korean authorities to come out to chill the zeal of the workers to support and implement the joint declaration, though they should spearhead the work to carry out it.
If they persistently block the attendance of chairman Ri and bring the seminar to collapse, they will be held entirely responsible for all the ensuing consequences.
The GFTUK will let its delegation arrive at Mt. Kumgang as scheduled, with the Expection that all the members of the delegations of the KCTU and the FSKTU including Ri will come to the seminar.
Implementation of three-point charter of Korean reunification called for
Pyongyang, December 9 (KCNA) -- All Koreans should turn out as one to implement the three-point charter of national reunification irrespective of ideology and system, class and social circle, political view and religious belief at a time when the movement for Korean reunification has reached a turning point, says Rodong Sinmun today in a signed article.
The article continues:
The President Kim Il Sung set forth the three principles of national reunification, the ten-point programme of the great unity of the whole nation and the proposal for founding the Democratic Federal Republic of Koryo. And the great leader Kim Jong Il formulated them as the three-point charter of national reunification.
It lays down under an integral system a main principle and ways of achieving national reunification at the earliest possible date in conformity with the aspiration and demand of the fellow countrymen to it.
Noting that the three-point charter of national reunification is the most precious heritage left by Kim Il Sung for the cause of national reunification, the article goes on:
Earlier achievement of national reunification depends on how to carry out the three-point charter of national reunification.
Whoever loves the country and the nation, be he or she in the north, south and overseas, should turn out to implement the three-point charter of national reunification in hearty response to it.
2nd general rally and demonstrations of S. Korean farmers
Pyongyang, December 9 (KCNA) -- The "National Federation of Peasants Associations" and other peasants organization held the second general rally of peasants at cities and counties across South Korea on Dec. 7, according to Seoul-based "Radio No. 1."
Peasants affiliated with these organizations held rallies in different areas in demand of enactment of a special law on the settlement of peasant families' debts, before staging protest demonstrations.
More than 5,000 peasants in South Kyongsang Province drove out farm machines in the street and staged a demonstration of returning farm machines in protest against snowballing debts on peasant families and tumbling prices of agricultural products.
Peasants in South Jolla Province piled up more than 5,000 straw bags of rice in front of six city and county offices, demanding payment in kind of peasant families' debts.
Peasants in other areas held rallies and condemned the authorities' failure of agricultural policy.
Japan urged to meet public demand
Pyongyang, December 9 (KCNA) -- Japan should meet the demand of the public at home and abroad for its apology and compensation for its past crimes, urges Rodong Sinmun here today in a signed commentary.
It goes on:
Japan brought unspeakable sufferings, misfortune and disasters to the Korean people in the past after illegally occupying Korea.
Nevertheless, the Japanese government has refused up to this date to own its state legal and moral responsibility for its past crimes.
The Japanese authorities are craftily working to evade its responsibility to pay compensation as an assailant, talking about "economic cooperation".
What Japan committed in the past was state sponsored-international crimes.
It is a demand of the international law and practice for a state to bear responsibility for the crimes sponsored by it.
The issue of Japan's redress for its past is not a business-like matter but a political and moral one as well as an issue related to the international law as it means settling crimes against humanity and rectifying blemished conscience.
This issue serves as a touchstone judging whether Japan has a will to draw a lesson from its past crimes and turn over a new leaf or not.
The Japanese authorities may be forsaken by the people at home and abroad and thrown overboard, if they continue playing a sleight of hand in a bid to evade the redress for its past crimes.
DPRK's acrobatic feats lauded
Pyongyang, December 9 (KCNA) -- A contingent of the Pyongyang Circus is creating a great sensation at the international joint acrobatic performance in Spain.
Participating in the joint performance that started on November 22 are famous acrobats from France, Romania, Portugal, Russia, Mexico and Cuba as well as the DPRK.
Seeing its performance, manager of the Spanish Mundial Circus Baria Gonzalez said that the DPRK's acrobatics is the best in the world and its aerial acrobatics, in particular, is on the world's highest level of skills.
Mediapersons of Spain are widely reporting the DPRK's aerial acrobatic pieces as typical works of the current joint performance and as excellent acrobatic feats displaying the spirit and courage of the Korean people, he added.
Deputy manager of this circus Gonzalez Zunia said that the joint performance has become increasingly popular for the DPRK's "flying girls" and "double swing" in its program.
Roland Machel, a pressman of Belgium, said the DPRK's acrobatic works pervaded with courage and bravery, joy and optimism, fully represent the ideological and spiritual world of the Korean people.
Hwasong fir tree forest
Pyongyang, December 9 (KCNA) -- There is a four-hectare fir tree forest in Kosong-ri, Hwasong county, North Hamgyong Province.
The formation of this forest goes back to about 1780.
Evergreen leaves add a special touch of beauty to the landscape of the village, delighting the eyes of visitors.
The tree is over 40 metres high each and its lower part measures three metres in girth.
The tree grows well in damp places and the speed of growth becomes fast after 10 years and the flower blooms once in two years.
Pine cone of the fir tree ripens in autumn that year after the flowers are out. It is circular in shape. Its length is 10 to 20 cm and its diameter is three to four cm.
It is propagated by seed and the life span is 300 to 400 years.
The tree is widely used as timber and for ornamental purposes and grows in gardens, parks, pleasure-grounds and botanical gardens.
The Hwasong fir tree forest has been registered as a natural monument.
Japan's projected building of "aircraft carrier type escort ships"
Pyongyang, December 9 (KCNA) -- The Japanese Maritime "Self-Defence Force" was reported to have decided to build and deploy two "escort ships of aircraft carrier type" in the period of the next arms buildup plan (2001-2005).
This type of ship is the first warship of aircraft carrier type for the Japanese Maritime "SDF." It will have increased anti-submarine combat capacity and perform the function of commanding a fleet.
This indicates that the Japanese reactionaries are going beyond the danger line in their moves to turn Japan into a military power in order to launch its overseas aggression.
Officials of the Japan defence agency assert that the ships to be built are "escort ships without attacking capacity", but its is nothing but sophism to hide their real purpose of overseas aggression.
An aircraft carrier has a mission to attack others in every case.
Through the projected building of ships of carrier type Japan seeks to render defunct the "peace constitution," which bans its overseas expansion, and thus increase its capacity to carry out military operations in any part of the world.
This decision is a reckless move to spark an arms race in the Asia-Pacific region and seriously disturb the overall stability there.
The senior most Japanese diplomat recently said that Japan would publish a "white paper on disarmament diplomacy."
But Japan's planned building of the above-said type ships, each worth 90 billion yen, goes to prove that its commitments to "disarmament" and "peace" are nothing but hypocrisy.
Japan, the world's second largest in armaments, has already secured a legal and institutional mechanism to militarily intervene in any dispute in the Asia-Pacific region through the adoption of the law related to the updated "Japan-U.S. Defence Cooperation Guidelines."
All these facts irrefutably testify to the fact that Japan's projected building of those ships is part of its moves for the conversion of Japan into a military power and its militarization for overseas aggression.
The Japanese bellicose forces keen on overseas aggression are oblivious of the fact that their moves will only lead them to self-destruction.
Asia today is not what it was in the past.
If Japan escalates its arms buildup and its preparations for overseas aggression, it will not be able to escape deserved punishment.
Japan's shameless servile diplomatic posture
Pyongyang, December 9 (KCNA) -- The Japanese government is becoming impudent in its behaviour these days, asserting that there is growing importance of "solidarity" among the United States, Japan and South Korea while the moves for the improvement of relations between the DPRK and the U.S. are becoming lukewarm.
In this regard Minju Joson today in a signed commentary observes:
This assertion is little short of betraying its flunkeyist and servile diplomatic posture as it proves that the Japanese government has so far approached the issue of the DPRK-Japan relations, reading others' faces.
It is clear that Japan's much touted "independent diplomacy" is nothing but flunkeyist and servile diplomacy.
Japan will not be able to solve any problem with such diplomatic posture, the commentary notes, and continues:
If the Japanese government had addressed the issue of opening diplomatic relations with the DPRK with its independent judgement and determination swimming with the trend of the times, the issue would have been settled long ago.
However, it has turned blind eyes to the trend of the times and approached the issue, reading others' faces and currying their favors.
Moreover, Japan has gone so far as not to hesitate to maliciously slander the DPRK, its dialogue partner, under the pretexts of non-existent "issues" and even work hard to isolate and destroy it, while shelving the pending issue of redressing its past.
If the Japanese government truly wishes to normalize the DPRK-Japan relations, it should drop flunkeyist and servile diplomatic posture devoid of its political dignity and principle.
Total revision of "SFA" called for
Pyongyang, December 9 (KCNA) -- Members of the People's Movement for the Revision of the Shackling "Status of Forces Agreement" (SFA) on Dec. 5 held a rally demanding the total revision of the SFA, according to Seoul-based "Radio No. 1".
They asserted that the unequal provisions of the present agreement including the issue of jurisdiction on criminals of the U.S. troops should totally be revised at the 10th round of the negotiations for the revision of the SFA that started on November 29.