Kim Jong Il congratulates servicemen on KPA birthday
Pyongyang, April 26 (KCNA) - Leader Kim Jong Il on Wednesday visited unit no.671 of the KPA and congratulated the servicemen on the 69th birthday of the heroic KPA.
The soldiers of the unit warmly welcomed the supreme commander, extending highest glory and heartfelt thanks to him.
He was accompanied by director of the KPA general political department Jo Myong Rok, chief of the KPA general staff Kim Yong Chun, minister of the People's Armed Forces Kim Il Chol, KPA generals Ri Myong Su, Hyon Chol Hae and Pak Jae Gyong, and other general officers.
His party also included secretary Kim Kuk Thae and first vice department directors Ri Yong Chol and Jang Song Thaek of the WPK Central Committee.
Kim Jong Il waved to the enthusiastically cheering soldiers and warmly congratulated the KPA officers and men on the anniversary of the KPA.
After acknowledging a salute, he, guided by the unit's commander, went to the monument to President Kim Il Sung's on-site instructions and the room for the education in the revolutionary history.
Then he looked round education room, bedroom and other facilities of a company under the unit to take warm care of soldiers' living, and saw the soldiers' combat training.
He expressed great satisfaction at the fact that all the soldiers have grown to be one-beats-a-hundred combatants prepared politico-ideologically and in military technique.
And he advanced highly important tasks which would serve as a guideline in further strengthening and developing the KPA into invincible revolutionary armed forces.
The next leg of his visit was a duck factory built by the unit itself. He said more delicious meat and eggs should be supplied to the servicemen, and set forth tasks to be carried out for increasing the factory's production capacity and improving the duck breeding.
On the same day, he saw, together with servicemen of the unit and their families, a performance given by the KPA Merited chorus.
He gave the servicemen of the unit an automatic rifle as a gift and posed for a picture with them.
Movement against Japan's distortion of history
Pyongyang, April 26 (KCNA) -- A permanent solidarity organization was formed in South Korea on Monday to counter in an organized and long-term way Japan's moves to distort history through textbooks, according to a CBS report from Seoul.
The headquarters of the movement against Japan's retrogressive revision of history textbooks called a meeting of representatives of organizations at its office in Seoul and inaugurated the headquarters of the movement to force Japan to set textbooks right, a permanent solidarity body.
An official of the headquarters said that it was decided to develop the temporary body made up of 59 civic organizations into a permanent body because a more systematic and long-term measure was needed to check the official approval of the distorted history textbook, which passed through examination at Japan's ministry of education and science, and draft correct history textbooks.
Greetings to Tanzanian President
Pyongyang, April 26 (KCNA) -- Kim Yong Nam, President of the presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, sent a message of greetings on April 24 to Tanzanian President Benjamin William Mkapa on Tuesday on the occasion of the 37th birthday of the United Republic of Tanzania.
Warmly congratulating the Tanzanian President, government and people on the anniversary, Kim in the message hoped that the excellent relations of friendship and cooperation existing between the two countries would continue to strengthen and develop.
He also wished the president and people of Tanzania great success in their efforts for national prosperity.
Wreaths and floral baskets laid at martyrs' cemeteries on KPA birthday
Pyongyang, April 26 (KCNA) -- Senior party and state officials, servicemen and working people visited the Revolutionary Martyrs' Cemetery on Mt. Taesong, the patriotic martyrs' cemetery and the monument to the victory in the Fatherland Liberation War on April 25, the 69th birthday of the heroic Korean People's Army.
Seen at the cemeteries were wreaths in the name of leader Kim Jong Il, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, Chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission and KPA supreme commander.
KPA guards of honor lined up there.
Senior party and state officials were present.
Laid at the cemeteries and the monument were wreaths and floral baskets in the name of the WPK Central Committee, the presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly and the cabinet of the DPRK.
Also placed were wreaths and floral baskets in the name of the ministry of the people's armed forces, working people's organizations, ministries, national institutions and others.
Meanwhile, wreaths were laid before the monuments to the fallen fighters and martyrs' statues and busts and graves across the country.
On the same day, the military attaches' corps in Korea laid a wreath to the Revolutionary Martyrs' Cemetery on Mt. Taesong and a floral basket to the monument to the victory in the Fatherland Liberation War.
NDFSK assails U.S. anti-north war games
Pyongyang, April 26 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the National Democratic Front of South Korea (NDFSK) released a statement on April 21 as regards the "reception, staging, onward movement and integration" exercise launched by the United States and the South Korean authorities on April 20, according to Voice of National Salvation from Seoul.
The United States is staging the exercise under the simulated conditions of an actual war on the Korean peninsula at a time when the bush administration is cooling down the DPRK-U.S. relations, driving the situation to acute confrontation, the statement noted, and said: This evidently proves that the U.S. hard line policy for offensive against the DPRK has reached an extremely adventurous and dangerous phase of its implementation.
Such reckless anti-DPRK war exercise can never be allowed, the statement said, bitterly denouncing it as a wanton violation of the 70 million Koreans' desire for independence, peace and reunification.
It further said:
The U.S. should stop the criminal war games at once, squarely seeing the will of the north and South Koreans to reunify the country by the united efforts of the nation.
And it should renounce its anachronistic policy for domination over the Korean peninsula and immediately withdraw its troops from South Korea as there is no justification for their continued presence in this land.
The South Korean authorities should promptly stop traitorous acts intended to break national reconciliation and unity and do harm to the fellow countrymen, subservient to the U.S. imperialists in contravention of the spirit of the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration. They should turn to national cooperation, not cooperation with outsiders.
Functions held to mark 69th anniversary of KPA
Pyongyang, April 26 (KCNA) -- Evening galas of youth and students were held in Pyongyang and other parts of the country yesterday to celebrate the 69th anniversary of the heroic Korean People's Army.
Youth and students in Pyongyang had evening galas in the plazas in front of the monument to the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea, the Tower of the Juche Idea, the monument to the victory in the Fatherland Liberation War and other places.
The participants danced to the tune of songs including "please accept our salute."
That day evening galas of youth and students also took place in cities and counties across the country.
Meanwhile, song and dance performances, revolutionary operas, revolutionary dramas, circus performances, etc. were given at theatres in Pyongyang and local areas.
Reception given for Lao foreign minister and his party
Pyongyang, April 26 (KCNA) -- The DPRK government hosted a reception in honour of the foreign minister of the Lao People's Democratic Republic and his party on a visit to the DPRK at the Mansudae Assembly Hall on April 25.
DPRK foreign minister Paek Nam Sun in his speech said that after the successful holding of the 7th congress of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) it is actively mobilizing all the Lao people for the implementation of the decisions made at the congress and registering many successes in its struggle to defend the gains of the revolution and consolidate the people's democratic system.
The Korean people are rejoiced over the Lao people's successes as over their own and sincerely wish them greater success in their work for the progress and the prosperity of the country, he added.
Deputy prime minister of the government and foreign minister of the Lao People's Democratic Republic Somsavath Lengsavath in his speech noted that the friendly relations between the two countries are growing stronger and developing under the care of Kim Jong Il, the great leader of the party and the people of Korea, and Khamtay Siphandone, chairman of the central committee of the LPRP and President of Laos.
He expressed the conviction that the Korean people would achieve greater successes in the building of a powerful nation, holding higher the banner of socialism under the wise guidance of Kim Jong Il.
U.S.-S. Korea joint military drill assailed
Pyongyang, April 26 (KCNA) -- Political parties, organizations and figures of Syria, Italy, Peru and Guyana released statements in protest against "Reception, Staging, Onward Movement and Integration" (RSOI) exercise of the United States and South Korea.
The Socialist Unionist Party of Syria in a statement on April 18 said that the joint military drill the U.S. imperialists are going to stage together with the South Korean military authorities clearly shows their aggressive nature and intention to strain the situation, not seeking peace on the Korean peninsula.
The movement for peace and socialism of Italy, the struggle for the peace and socialism of Italy, the People's United Democratic Left Wing of Italy and the Italian Committee for Reunification and Peace of Korea in their joint statement on April 13 noted that the Korean peninsula is now exposed to a serious military threat of the imperialists and the peace process between the north and south of Korea is beset with the danger of rupture. They expressed their determination to strongly oppose the belligerent maneuvers of the U.S. administration.
The Asian Regional Committee for Supporting Korea's Reunification in a statement on April 18 said the U.S. should bear in mind that if it unleashes a war on the Korean peninsula it will suffer a more miserable defeat than that in the Korean War in the 1950s.
The Peruvian Committee for Supporting the Independent and Peaceful Reunification of Korea in a statement on April 19 noted that if the U.S. truly wants disarmament and peace on the Korean peninsula it should take practical measures for the withdrawal of its forces from South Korea before talking about the issue of "reduction of conventional weapons" in the DPRK. If the South Korean authorities follow the U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK it will be a perfidy to the north-south joint declaration, the statement said.
The chairman of the Guyanese Committee for Supporting Korea's Reunification in a statement on April 19 disclosed that through the RSOI drill the U.S. seeks to check Korea's reunification and create a situation favorable for the achievement of its ambition to dominate the whole of Korea.
Former vice-chairman of KCTU sentenced to jail in S. Korea
Pyongyang, April 26 (KCNA) -- Ryang Gyu Hon, former vice-chairman of the South Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, was sentenced to jail by the Seoul district court on April 20 on charges that he spearheaded workers' joint struggle across South Korea and a large-scale demonstration on campus without permission in 1994 and 1995, according to Seoul-based Yonhap News.
DPRK high-ranking military delegation leaves for Russia
Pyongyang, April 26 (KCNA) -- A high-ranking military delegation headed by Kim Il Chol, vice-chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission and minister of the People's Armed Forces (PAF), left here today for Russia.
The delegation was seen off at the airport by vice-minister of the PAF Jong Chang Ryol, vice-minister of foreign affairs Pak Kil Yon, generals and officers of the Korean People's Army, Russian ambassador to the DPRK Valery Denisov and military attache of the Russian embassy Vladimir Dombrovski.
Greetings to South African President
Pyongyang, April 26 (KCNA) -- Kim Yong Nam, President of the presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, yesterday sent a message of greetings to South African President Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki on the occasion of its national day.
He in the message expressed the conviction that the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries would grow stronger and develop in all fields and wished the president and people of South Africa great success in their work for its prosperity.
Paek Nam Sun meets foreign ambassadors
Pyongyang, April 26 (KCNA) -- Paek Nam Sun, DPRK foreign minister, met and conversed with Ihor A. Lytvyn, new Ukrainian ambassador to the DPRK, and Bernard A.B. Goonetilleke, new ambassador of Sri Lanka to the DPRK, when they separately paid courtesy visits to him today.
Credentials to Kim Yong Nam
Pyongyang, April 26 (KCNA) -- Kim Yong Nam, President of the presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, separately received credentials from Ihor A. Lytvyn, new Ukrainian ambassador to the DPRK, and Bernard A.B. Goonetilleke, ambassador of Sri Lanka to the DPRK, at the Mansudae Assembly Hall today.
Present at the presentation ceremony were Pak Kil Yon, vice-minister of foreign affairs, and others.
After receiving the credentials, Kim had talks with them.