Remark of director general of Japan Defence Agency
Pyongyang, December 15 (KCNA) -- Director general of the Japan Defence Agency Saito at a press interview underscored the "need to increase Japan's military capability," asserting that "North Korea is maintaining and strengthening its military muscle."
In this regard Rodong Sinmun today in a signed commentary observes:
Saito's utterance reflects evil practices of the Japanese reactionaries to justify their wrongdoings by faulting others.
It is the Japanese reactionaries who justify their militarist moves by hurling mud at others, the commentary notes, and goes on:
Their call for "increased military capability" under the pretext of "threat from North Korea" is just like a thief crying "stop the thief."
The threat of war and destruction is coming not from the DPRK but from Japan to the Korean peninsula.
The enactment of the law related to a war which restores the right of belligerency and the right to participate in a war, expansion of armaments, deployment of "Self-Defence Forces" in the western area and frequent military exercises staged under the simulated conditions of an "emergency on the Korean peninsula" and so on clearly indicate what Japan seeks in its moves.
What the Japanese reactionaries are now doing only adds to the crimes committed in the past.
The Korean people will bear this in mind and surely force them to pay for them.
South side's delegation feted
Pyongyang, December 15 (KCNA) -- Senior councilor of the DPRK cabinet Jon Kum Jin, head of the north side's delegation to the north-south ministerial talks, hosted a reception at Pyongyang Koryo Hotel yesterday for the south side's delegation to the fourth round of the talks.
Invited to the reception were members of the south side's delegation headed by Unification Minister Pak Jae Gyu.
Present there were Jang Jae On, chairman of the central committee of the DPRK Red Cross Society, Song Sok Hwan, vice-Minister of Culture, Kim Jong Ung, vice-Minister of Public Health, Choe Yun Sik, vice-chairman of the Pyongyang City People's Committee, officials concerned and members of the north side's delegation.
Speeches were made at the reception.
Photo exhibition and film show held
Pyongyang, December 15 (KCNA) -- The DPRK Ministry of Foreign Trade arranged a photo exhibition and film show on December 14 to mark the 9th anniversary of the great leader Kim Jong Il's election as Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army and the 83rd birth anniversary of the great communist revolutionary fighter Kim Jong Suk.
Invited there were economic and trade officials of various embassies in Pyongyang.
The participants looked round photos showing the energetic external activities conducted by Kim Jong Il to bring about a turning phase of the struggle for the country's reunification and the final victory of the Korean revolution.
Also on display were photos on the Korean people's proud achievements made in the efforts to glorify the 55th anniversary of the Worker's Party of Korea as a grand festival of victors.
The participants watched a documentary film on the on-site guidance given by Kim Jong Il to revolutionary battle sites in the area of Mt. Paektu.
Review of six months after adoption of June 15 inter-Korean joint declaration
Pyongyang, December 15 (KCNA) -- Six months after the historic Pyongyang meeting and the publication of the north-south joint declaration evidently show who, in Korea, truly hopes for reconciliation, unity, peace and reunification and has been faithful to the joint declaration and who has been seeking to bring the inter-Korean relations back to confrontation, going against the declaration.
This is stressed in an article titled "Nothing can stop nation's advance towards 21st century, century of independence and reunification" published six months after the adoption of the declaration.
The article says:
In the past six months the North Korea has made all its possible efforts with sincerity to smoothly implement the agreed points clarified in the inter-Korean joint declaration. But, some political quarters of the south have engaged themselves in the moves to put the brake on its implementation.
Citing facts to fully disclose such frantic moves they made to bring the north-south relations back to the state of confrontation while opposing the historic Pyongyang meeting and denying the joint declaration, it further says:
From the very day the issue of Pyongyang meeting was high on the agenda they dismissed it as "premature" or a deed of getting involved in the north's "tactics for united front."
When the June 15 joint declaration was adopted they denied it, asserting that it means the south has given in and played into the north's hands.
Such obstructive moves were manifested more saliently in hamstringing the basic spirit of the meeting and the declaration. As soon as the declaration was published they made much ado about nothing. They desperately rejected it and more zealously called for "permanent presence of the U.S. forces" and close "cooperation in security" and "cooperation system" with their masters. And they further strengthened the political and military ties with outsiders while staging with the United States large-scale joint military exercises such as "Ulji Focus Lens" and "Foal Eagle".
Some quarters in South Korea also denied the provision of the joint declaration on reunifying the country by federal and confederal formulas. Arguing that acceptance of the north's lower stage of federation means concession of the "liberal-democratic system," they have held that this reunification formula should never be accepted.
The separatists including the right-wing conservative forces of South Korea threw obstacles in the way of smooth progress of dialogue, contacts, cooperation and exchange between the north and the south.
They blocked for no reason visits and contacts between political parties and organizations and figures from all walks of life of the north and the south. As far as the inter-Korean economic cooperation is concerned, they asserted that "it is just like paying tribute to the north" and "the principle of reciprocity should be maintained."
They made it difficult to properly solve such humanitarian issues as the reunion between separated families and relatives by staging a money offensive aimed to incite confrontation between the two systems and destabilize the other side.
They put up various conditions even on mutual aid between fellow countrymen in a bid to block it under the pretext of "transparency."
The right-wing conservative forces of South Korea regard the people in the north not as compatriots but as an "enemy."
They defined the north as the "principal enemy" again in a recent "white paper on national defence." This was an unpardonable provocation to the north.
Moreover, anti-north meeting and "signature campaign" took place in the center of Seoul.
The north and the south should not take any different approach to the implementation of the June 15 joint declaration, the charter of the nation and the great program for independence and reunification.
And the ruling and opposition parties and the progressive and conservative forces should not differ from each other in this aspect.
The inter-Korean relations and the issue of reunification related to the destiny of the nation should not be used by any party as a plaything in a political scramble under any circumstances, nor should be an object of jealousy.
If the inter-Korean relations go back to the state of confrontation, there will be no way to restore them.
No one can block the advance of the Korean nation toward the 21st century, a century of independence and reunification.
Concert wins acclaim
Pyongyang, December 15 (KCNA) -- "People's Artiste Ri Hak Bom Concert" is now going on at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre.
The concert program includes more than 20 pieces of chorus, instrumental and orchestral works including theme songs of feature films "A Soldier's Desire" and "Young Locomotive Engineer."
The concert is performed by renowned singers, instrumentalists and conductors of the Mansudae Art Troupe.
The performance is enthusiastically applauded by the audience for high artistic skills, diverse genre and rich emotion.
Composer Ri Hak Bom, 62, was born in Yomju county, North Phyongan Province, in November Juche 27 (1938).
After graduation from Pyongyang University of Music and Dance he conducted creative activities at the Mansudae Art Troupe, the Korean Film Studio and other art institutions.
He proved himself to be talented composer by creating at least 160 pieces of orchestral music, concertos, ensembles, solos and other instrumental music, opera and movie music, popular songs and juvenile music.
He is a "Kim Il Sung Prize" winner and People's Artiste.
As the head of the Mansudae Art Troupe, he is addressing himself to creative work with high spirits and passion.
DPRK praised by British political figure
Pyongyang, December 15 (KCNA) -- The DPRK founded by the President Kim Il Sung and glorified by the great leader Kim Jong Il is shining with independent politics and army-first leadership, said Andy Brooks, general secretary of the New Communist Party of Great Britain who had visited the DPRK several times.
Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il are the great leaders of independent politics, he noted. The world history of politics for the 20th century knows no other great men than them who have conducted energetic activities for the country and the people, and national sovereignty and dignity, he said, and continued:
The independent politics of the DPRK was provided by Kim Il Sung and is being consolidated and glorified by Kim Jong Il.
The matchless grit of Kim Jong Il with which to allow no infringement upon national sovereignty and dignity even under the pressure and blockade of the allied forces of imperialists gained much favour in many countries.
The DPRK, led by Kim Jong Il, great master of independent politics, will further shine as a bulwark of socialism.
The independent politics is firmly guaranteed by powerful national defence capacity.
Kim Jong Il is leading the revolution and construction to victory with his army-first politics of strengthening defence power and giving greater prominence to the army as the pillars of the revolution.
The reality of the DPRK which is winning victory after victory in political, ideological and military confrontation with the imperialists evidently shows that the army-first politics is a treasured sword for defending socialism.
As long as the Korean people and people's army are led by Kim Jong Il's superb army-first politics, they will as always emerge victorious and build a powerful socialist state without fail.
Improper attitude of U.S. denounced
Pyongyang, December 15 (KCNA) -- The South Korean newspaper Hangyore (internet) on December 9 carried an editorial captioned "Why does the U.S. behave so?"
It said:
The U.S. attitude on such pending issues between the U.S. and South Korea as the revision of the "Status of Forces Agreement" and the probe into the truth of mass killings of civilians in Rogun-ri is arousing not just disappointment but indignation.
Noting that the recent ninth round of the negotiations on the revision of the agreement showed a setback, far from reaching any agreement, the editorial said that now it has become difficult for the heads of South Korea and the U.S. to keep their promise to revise the agreement before the end of Clinton's term of office.
It went on:
The U.S. is not ready to revoke the unequal preferential treatment and privileges granted to it in the past. This behavior of the U.S. deserves denunciation as it is a manifestation of its arrogant great power chauvinism.
The U.S. also hurt the dignity of the South Korean people as far as the massacres of civilians in Rogun-ri are concerned. An investigation team of the U.S. defense department, while admitting the mass killings, is going to conclude that they were not perpetrated by order from the superior but occurred by accident in confusion.
If the U.S. clinches the mass killings as "accidental cases that occurred without any order from the superior" in a bid to evade state responsibility, it will trigger off protest and indignation of not only the victims of mass killings in Rogun-ri but all other people. Such unequal relations between the U.S. and South Korea can no longer go on.
U.S. anti-personnel mines massively laid
Pyongyang, December 15 (KCNA) -- The United States has 1.2 million anti-personnel mines laid in South Korea, according to South Korean "Yonhap News" (internet).
The U.S. is reported to have 1.7 million mines in foreign countries or more than 10 per cent of its stockpiled ones, 70 per cent of them in South Korea.
This fact was disclosed by a report presented by a non-governmental organization "Human Rights Watch" to the second annual meeting of the countries concerned with the revised protocol on anti-personnel mines of the specified conventional weapon convention held in Geneva on December 11.