Rodong Sinmun on world trend to establish diplomatic relations with DPRK

    Pyongyang, February 24 (KCNA) -- The establishment of diplomatic relations between the DPRK and western countries is a fruition of the independent foreign policy pursued by the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), says Rodong Sinmun today in a signed article. It says:
    Shortly ago, the DPRK established diplomatic relations with Canada and Spain and earlier with the Netherlands and Belgium.
    Last year Philippines, Italy and United Kingdom opened diplomatic ties with the DPRK and Australia resumed them with it.
    Independence, peace and friendship are the avowed idea of the foreign policy of the WPK and the DPRK government.
    The DPRK does not make any discrimination in improving diplomatic relations nor put any conditions.
    It is the WPK's stand to establish and develop good-neighbourly, friendly and cooperative relations with all the countries that respect the DPRK's sovereignty and are friendly towards it.
    The international concern for the DPRK is growing deeper as days go by and it has become an irresistible trend for many countries to desire improved relations with the DPRK.
    This is quite a natural and normal process.
    The normalization of the relations between the DPRK and various countries in the world would make a positive contribution to ensuring peace and security not only in northeast Asia but the rest of the world.
    The DPRK government will as ever make a positive contribution to the humankind's common cause of global independence by developing friendly, cooperative and good-neighbourly relations with all the countries in the world that respect its sovereignty and are friendly towards it.

Meeting held on Guyana's National Day

Pyongyang, February 24 (KCNA) -- A meeting was held here yesterday on the occasion of the 31st anniversary of the proclamation of the cooperative Republic of Guyana in the name of the DPRK-Latin American and Caribbean Regional Friendship Association and the DPRK-Guyana Friendship Association. Participating in the meeting were vice-minister of culture Song Sok Hwan who is vice-chairman of the DPRK-Latin American and Caribbean Regional Friendship Association, members of the DPRK-Guyana Friendship Association and working people in the city.
Speeches were made and a congratulatory message to Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo was adopted there.

Floral basket to Kim Jong Il from Guinean President

    Pyongyang, February 24 (KCNA) -- A floral basket was presented to leader Kim Jong Il from Guinean President Lansana Conte on the occasion of his birthday (February 16). It was handed to the DPRK ambassador to Guinea by Cissoko, chief of state protocol of the presidential office who paid a congratulatory visit to the embassy upon the authorization of the president on Feb. 14.
    The chief of state protocol said that the great leader of the Korean people Kim Jong Il's birthday is not only their greatest national holiday but a holiday common to humankind.
    Kim Jong Il is the only great politician and great leader of the people in the world as he enjoys boundless respect and reverence not only from the Guinean people but from all other African people for his immortal feats performed in the human cause of independence, he noted, and stressed that the Guinean people would as ever send positive support to the just cause of the Korean people and stand on their side.

National Day of Kuwait marked

Pyongyang, February 24 (KCNA) -- A photo exhibition and a film show took place in Pyongyang yesterday on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the National Day of Kuwait. Present there were Choe Jong Hwan, vice-chairman of the Korean Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, members of the society and working people in the city.
After a speech was made, the participants looked round photos introducing the development of Kuwait and saw its documentary film.

Japan's redress for its past crimes demanded

    Pyongyang, February 24 (KCNA) -- Minju Joson today carries a signed commentary on the two diametrically different stands between Germany, Britain and other European countries and Japan on their past issues. The commentary says:
    More moves taken by European countries to redress their past in the new century can be interpreted as a manifestation of the unshakable will to put an end to their inglorious past and take a right road suited to the requirements of the new century.
    Unlike European countries, Japan is persistently evading its responsibility to redress its past still today though the world greeted a new century.
    Not content with distorting and beautifying its history of militarist aggression, it has gone the length of totally denying it. It is employing a sleight of hand to calm down the world public protest and denunciation through the payment of a petty amount of "temporary fund" out of what it calls "fund for Asian women".
    Japan's redress for its past crimes is the only way out for it to save itself from moral destruction.

S. Korean workers to stage stronger protest

    Pyongyang, February 24 (KCNA) -- At least 1,500 workers and students of the joint struggle committee of the Daewoo Motor Company which groups 26 civil and students' organizations including the trade union of the Daewoo Motor Company and the South Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) held a rally in Inchon on Feb. 20 in protest against the police crackdown and threatened to stage a more powerful struggle, according to the South Korean newspaper Hangyore. Chairman of KCTU Tan Pyong Ho declared that protest rallies would be held every day with that rally as a momentum.
    At the end of the rally its participants staged a protest meeting.
    In another development, the trade unions of various affiliated factories of the Daewoo Motor Company are joining in the strike of the unionists of the Puphyong Factory.

Congratulatory visits to DPRK embassies

    Pyongyang, February 24 (KCNA) -- On the occasion of the birthday of leader Kim Jong Il floral baskets addressed to him were sent to the DPRK embassy in Lima by Alberto Moreno, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Peru (Red Motherland), the People's Front of Workers, Peasants and Students of Peru, the Peru-Korea Institute of Culture and Friendship, the Peruvian National Association for the Study of Kimjongilism, the Peruvian Association for the Study of Comrade Kim Jong Suk's Revolutionary Activities and the Snife company of Peru. Meanwhile, representatives of political parties, organizations and companies of India paid congratulatory visits to the Korean embassy in their country. Among them were member of parliament Sushil Kumar Shinde, former general secretary of the Indian National Congress Party (I), Prasanna Pathasani and Sarla Maheshiwari, MPS from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and J. K. Patel, director of the Institute for Foreign Policy Studies of India.
    Vishwanath, director general of the International Institute of the Juche Idea, and Om Prakash Mantri, secretary general of the Asian regional committee to support Korea's reunification, too, visited the embassy.
    In Ethiopia the DPRK embassy was visited by minister of information and culture Wolde Mikael Chamo and leading officials of the machine-building industrial committee and the Ministry of Defence.
    The visitors laid floral baskets before the portraits of President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il and paid respects to them.

Japan urged to make sincere apology and compensation

    Pyongyang, February 24 (KCNA) -- The editorial board of Rodong Sinmun is now deluged with letters from readers expressing bitter curse and indignation at Japan. In this regard, the paper today in a signed article says:
    The readers are angered by Japan which has greeted a new century without settling its past.
    It says:
    The Japanese imperialists were the most ferocious aggressors who invaded Korea and committed all sorts of vices against the Korean people. The moral baseness of the Japanese reactionaries has reached its height as they have inherited the spirit and temper of the samurais.
    The article quotes readers as saying:
    The nature of Japan remains unchanged and it is the inveterate enemy with which the Korean people can not live under the same sky.
    We should not compromise with the Japanese reactionaries even a bit but force them pay for the blood shed by our people in the past.
    The voices of the Korean people expressing resentment and indignation at the Japanese imperialists' aggression in the past are a manifestation of their will to force them to pay for the blood shed by the Koreans at any cost, the article says, and goes on:
    Japan has not yet redeemed its past because of its wild design to recover from its past defeat and such wrong way of thinking as looking down on other Asian nations.
    If Japan persistently refuses to make a bold decision to settle its past crimes, turning blind eyes to the trend of the times in the 21st century and the world mindset, it will meet no better end than that of a dayfly.
    Japan is well advised to bear this in mind and make a sincere apology and compensation for its past crimes as early as possible as demanded by the Korean people and the rest of the world people.

Seminar held in Japan

    Pyongyang, February 24 (KCNA) -- A national seminar on the Juche idea, an earlier opening of Japan-DPRK diplomatic relations, independence and peace was held in Japan on Feb. 11 on the occasion of the birthday of leader Kim Jong Il. Present at the seminar were figures from all walks of life in Japan, vice-chairman Nam Sung U of the central standing committee of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) and a delegation of the Korean social scientists society.
    Seiichi Sakugawa, chairman of the National Liaison Council of Japan Societies for the Study of the Juche Idea, said in his keynote report that the people in each country should pursue independent politics of believing in their own efforts and depending on them if they are to build a peaceful world without exploitation and oppression. He continued:
    The Korean people successfully concluded the "arduous march" through an indomitable struggle and waged a dynamic drive to build a powerful socialist nation despite the imperialists' moves to isolate and suffocate the DPRK and unprecedented natural disasters. This was possible entirely thanks to the great army-first leadership and independent politics of Kim Jong Il.
    The Juche idea which reflects the need of the era of independence is an idea centered on the popular masses as it clarifies principles and methods for transforming society.
    Referring to the issue of establishing diplomatic relations between Japan and the DPRK, he said that although Japan-DPRK inter-governmental talks were resumed, the reactionary forces have raised the issue of "suspected kidnapping," a fiction, opposing the inter-governmental negotiations for opening Japan-DPRK diplomatic relations. If Japan truly wishes the normalization of relations, it should, first of all, sincerely repent of its unprecedented aggression and plunder against the Korean people and apologize and compensate to them for those crimes, he urged.
    Vice-president Yasushi Akashi of the People's Council for Promoting the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between Japan and the DPRK who is former UN deputy secretary general said in a lecture on the Korean issue that Japan should honestly apologize and compensate for its past crimes as Germany did.
    It is good for the improvement of Japan-DPRK relations, he said, and went on:
    All the Japanese should conduct a vigorous campaign for independence, peace and the promotion of the opening of diplomatic relations between Japan and the DPRK in the 21st century.
    The speakers called for cherishing the unshakable faith in the Juche idea and conducting energetic activities for the study and dissemination of the Juche idea to promote the opening of diplomatic relations between Japan and the DPRK and achieve Japan's independence.
    A letter to Kim Jong Il was adopted at the seminar.

Rodong Sinmun on Kim Jong Il's leadership over movement for national reunification

    Pyongyang, February 24 (KCNA) -- It is a precious fruition of tireless efforts and extraordinary steermanship of leader Kim Jong Il, the lodestar of national reunification, that all the fellow countrymen in the north, south and abroad are making a dynamic march for independent reunification, says Rodong Sinmun today in a signed article. The article says:
    Kim Jong Il made sure that the cause of national reunification is steadily carried forward as the cause of President Kim Il Sung.
    The banner of national independence held aloft by Kim Jong Il represented the Juche-oriented idea set forth by the president when founding the "Down-With-Imperialism Union" and his leadership art with which he has led the nation to open a decisive phase of national reunification was just the same as that was displayed by the president when achieving victories, relying on the masses.
    Kim Jong Il enforced the same benevolent and all-embracing policies to embrace all Koreans without discrimination and strengthen the driving force of reunification as those pursued by the president.
    Saying that Kim Jong Il injected vitality into the nation's movement for reunification which was at a standstill, the article continues:
    He saw to it that a grand pan-national festival for reunification was held with splendour on August 15, 1994, the year when the entire nation was grieved by its greatest loss. This is a clear example of his unshakable patriotic will for reunification to save the reunification movement from crisis and further expand and develop it at any cost.
    A steady continuity has been given to the movement of national reunification, which was in danger of a setback, and the driving force for accomplishing the cause of national independence has grown stronger. This is a great feat he has performed in the nation's cause of reunification.
    His provision of the historic north-south joint declaration, a landmark of national reunification in the 21st century, was his greatest feat performed in the struggle to accomplish the cause of reunification at the turn of the century.
    He indicated a bright road of independent reunification with his invincible idea on national reunification and strategy and tactics. his ideas and policies for national reunification are strategy and tactics centering on the nation as they reflect the nation's requirements and interests and give an impetus to the reunification movement based on the internal force of the nation.
    His leadership over the movement for national reunification is invincible leadership as it ensures victory by strengthening the driving force of reunification, resolutely rejecting outside forces and providing conditions for the development of the reunification movement on the nation's own initiative.

Collection of poems praising Kim Jong Il published in S. Korea

Pyongyang, February 24 (KCNA) -- A collection of poems "Historic June Sings of Great Man" was published by popular poets in Seoul on the occasion of leader Kim Jong Il's birthday, according to Seoul-based Voice of National Salvation. The 216 page collection has 59 poems including "Charmed by General Kim Jong Il" and "General Kim Jong Il, Sun of Reunification."
The poems highly praise him for his noble personality as a great man and outstanding leadership. This collection of poems is now popular among the South Korean readers.

Messages of greetings exchanged

Pyongyang, February 24 (KCNA) -- Paek Nam Sun, foreign minister of the DPRK, and Mahmoud Hammoud, minister of Foreign Affairs and immigration of Lebanon, exchanged messages of greetings on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The messages expressed the belief that the cooperation between the two countries would grow stronger.

First meeting of inter-Korean subcommittee held

    Pyongyang, February 24 (KCNA) -- The first meeting of the north-south subcommittee for preventing flood damage in the area along the River Rimjin was held here from Feb. 21 to 24. At the meeting both sides shared the view that the issue of preventing flood damage in the area along the river is of weighty importance in achieving the balanced development of national economy and improving the country's territorial environment in the spirit of the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration and earnestly discussed issues related to the prevention of flood damage including joint survey.
    They agreed to continue discussion on those issues unsettled at the meeting by way of exchanging documents.
    The south side's delegation left here today by air after attending the meeting.