Heaven Day ceremony held
Pyongyang, April 6 (KCNA) -- Heaven Day ceremony for commemorating the 141st anniversary of Chondoism was held in Pyongyang on April 5.
Han Yong Up, vice-chairman of the Korean Chondoist Church central guidance committee, made a report at the ceremony.
He said that Chondoism, greeting the 141st anniversary of its foundation, has invariably taken the road of love for the country and the nation under the slogans "reject west and Japan," "promote national interests and welfare of the people," etc.
He noted he keenly realized through his experiences that leader Kim Jong Il is the tender-hearted father of the nation who embraces all fellow countrymen.
He called upon the Chondoists in the north and south of Korea and all other fellow countrymen to turn out in the building of a powerful nation and the reunification movement for the implementation of the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration under the leadership of Kim Jong Il, the lodestar of national reunification.
Present at the ceremony were advisor O Ik Je and other officials of the central guidance committee and Chondoists in Pyongyang.
KCNA on Japan's approval of history textbooks
Pyongyang, April 6 (KCNA) -- The Japanese authorities officially approved history textbooks prepared by a right-wing organization on April 3 at their examination despite strong domestic and foreign protest.
This is an intolerable insult and a blatant challenge to Korea and other Asian countries which underwent unspeakable disasters at the hands of the Japanese imperialists in the past, the international community and an unbiased public opinion.
It is well known to the world that Japan occupied Korea in a brigandish way in early last century and incessantly launched aggression and war against Asian countries, killing tens of thousands of innocent people and looting huge human and material resources.
Japan set up the system of "comfort women for the army" unprecedented in human history of war, reducing hundreds of thousands of women to sexual slaves, hideous crimes against humanity.
Such militarists and ultra-nationalists as Tojo were, therefore, executed after being convicted of war crimes at the international tribunal held after the second world war and Japan is still listed as an enemy state in the U.N. Charter.
All these are an undeniable and indelible part of the world history of the 20th century. it does not make any sense to write down the history of Japan in the first half of the 20th century without referring to those crimes.
However, the Japanese right-wing reactionary forces have persisted in their moves to teach young Japanese distorted history and the Japanese government has gone the length of officially joining in those moves.
The government connived at and backed the reactionary moves to rewrite history textbooks from the outset and finally justified and legalized them, thus committing one more unpardonable crime before humankind and history in the new century.
Japan will have to pay a very high price for such anachronistic acts.
British parliament criticizes U.S. hostile policy toward DPRK
Pyongyang, April 6 (KCNA) -- George Galloway, senior vice-chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the British House of Commons, submitted a resolution "on the Korean situation" criticizing the new U.S. administration's hostile policy toward the DPRK to parliament as an official document on March 28.
The resolution said parliament expresses deep concern about the Bush administration's suspension of dialogue under way between the DPRK and the U.S. and its pursuance of a "hard-line policy".
This policy of the bush administration cannot be construed otherwise than another step aimed at finding a pretext for the establishment of its alleged "National Missile Defence" system, stressed the resolution.
Dialogue is the only way of propelling peace process on the Korean peninsula, the resolution said, urging the new U.S. administration to have dialogue with the DPRK.
South Korean student organisations call for anti-U.S. struggle
Pyongyang, April 6 (KCNA) -- The south headquarters of the National Alliance of Youth and Students for the Country's Reunification (Pomchonghakryon) made public an appeal headlined "Let's foil the U.S. plot to frustrate the June 15 Joint Declaration with anti-U.S. resistance under the uplifted banner of the June 15 joint declaration" to young people of different social standings on March 29, according to a news report.
The appeal castigated the Bush administration for running amuck to derail the declaration and ignite a war in Korea, openly advocating the policy of confrontation with the north.
The appeal called upon all the students and youth struggling with the declaration as the banner of national reunification to counter the U.S. moves with anti-U.S. resistance shoulder to shoulder with patriotic people and pave the way for the implementation of the declaration through struggle.
The appeal called upon all students, people and their leading officials to take the lead in the movement for national independence and reunification as pace-setters of the anti-U.S. resistance and fight for the dismantlement of the U.S. military bases and for the withdrawal of the U.S. troops.
Meanwhile, the South Korean Federation of University Student Councils (Hanchongryon) made public an appeal for anti-U.S. struggle on March 28.
One million students under hanchongryon should come out at once in the anti-U.S. struggle, rallied under the flag of hanchongryon, said the appeal.
It declared a "period of the first anti-U.S. struggle of hanchongryon" from April 3 to May 18 and called for fighting for a probe into the truth behind mass killings and all other problems concerning the U.S. troops and for their withdrawal from South Korea and against U.S. interference in internal affairs.
Indomitable spirit of Korean youth praised
Pyongyang, April 6 (KCNA) -- What impressed us most during our visit to the DPRK was the indomitable spirit of the Korean youth, said Zhu Qiang, first secretary of the central committee of the Communist Youth League of China, when interviewed by KCNA.
He led the delegation of the communist youth league of china from March 31 to April 5.
The delegation was greatly inspired by the successes made by the Korean youth in socialist construction including the building of the youth hero motorway at such hard time, he noted.
He sincerely wished the Korean youth greater success in building a powerful socialist nation under Kim Jong Il's wise leadership in the days ahead.
Minutes of economic talks between DPRK and Netherlands signed
Pyongyang, April 6 (KCNA) -- Minutes of talks on bilateral cooperation in the fields of foreign trade and economy were signed between the Ministry of Foreign Trade of the DPRK and the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Netherlands in Pyongyang today.
They were signed by Kim Ryong Mun, vice-minister of foreign trade, and Dominique Bauduin, chairman of the committee for international trade and investment of the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Netherlands.
Diplomatic relations established between DPRK and Kuwait
Pyongyang, April 6 (KCNA) -- A protocol on establishing diplomatic relations between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the State of Kuwait was released today.
The protocol reads:
The Democratic People's Repulic of Korea and the State of Kuwait, prompted by the desire to develop relations of friendship and cooperation in the political, economic, cultural, humanitarian and other fields of mutual cooperation, wishing to develop essential relations on the basis of the purposes and norms of the Charter of the United Nations and the norms of international law and convinced that the establishment of diplomatic relations corresponds to the national interests of both states and will contribute to the consolidation of cooperation and peace in the world, have agreed to establish diplomatic relations at ambassadorial level at the date of the signing of this protocol, based on the provisions of the 1961 Vienna convention on diplomatic relations.
Done in Kuwait city, Wednesday on 10th Moharram 1422h, corresponding 4th April 2001, in duplicate in Korean, Arabic and English languages, all texts being equally authentic.
The protocol was signed by Kim Hyong Jun, DPRK ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Syrian Arab Republic for the DPRK and Khaled S. al-Jarallah, under-secretary of the ministry of foreign affairs in Kuwait for the State of Kuwait.