Kim Jong Il meets presidential orchestra of Russia
Pyongyang, March 28 (KCNA) - General Secretary Kim Jong Il yesterday met leading members and principal actors and actresses of the presidential orchestra of the Russian Federation including lieutenant general Sergei Streigin, commander of the garrison of the Kremlin in Moscow, on a visit to the DPRK, who is leading the orchestra on a visit to the DPRK.
Present there were Jo Myong Rok, director of the general political department of the Korean People's Army, Kim Yong Chun, chief of the general staff of the KPA, and Choe Thae Bok and Jong Ha Chol, secretaries of the central committee of the WPK, and other officials and Andrei Karlov, Russian ambassador to the DPRK.
The head of the orchestra courteously conveyed to Kim Jong Il a gift from Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and presented him with a gift in the name of the orchestra.
Kim Jong Il expressed his thanks for this, warmly welcomed the orchestra's visit to the DPRK and had a warm and friendly talk with the guests.
He had a photograph taken with the artistes of the orchestra that day.
Kim Jong Il enjoys performance given by Russian presidential orchestra
Pyongyang, March 28 (KCNA) - General Secretary Kim Jong Il yesterday enjoyed a performance given by the Russian presidential orchestra at the Mansudae Art Theatre.
When he appeared in the auditorium the whole audience enthusiastically warmly welcomed him with cheers.
Artistes of the orchestra presented a floral basket to him.
Seeing the performance were Jo Myong Rok, director of the general political department of the Korean People's Army, Kim Yong Chun, chief of the general staff of the KPA, Choe Thae Bok, Jong Ha Chol, Kim Kuk Thae, Kim Ki Nam and Kim Yong Sun, secretaries of the Central Committee of the WPK, and other senior officials.
Also among the audience were lieutenant general Sergei Streigin, commander of the garrison of the Kremlin in Moscow who is leading the orchestra, Russian ambassador to the DPRK Andrei Karlov and staff members of the embassy.
The performance began with the playing of the national anthems of the DPRK and the Russian Federation.
Put on the stage were an orchestral music "Overture to the Opera 'Ruslan and Lyudmila'," a chorus "Kalinka," Korean songs "Dear General, Where Are You." "It Is the Socialist Land of Bliss" and other colorful numbers.
The performance closed with "Song of General Kim Jong Il" and a chorus "Our Friendship Will Be Everlasting", a song composed by P.B. Obshankov who is in charge of arts and chief conductor of the orchestra, representing the desire to boost the friendly relations with the Korean people while staying here.
Kim Jong Il sent a floral basket to the artistes of the orchestra congratulating them on their successful performance.
Drill to neutralize poisonous chemicals staged in S. Korea
Pyongyang, March 28 (KCNA) -- The U.S. imperialists staged with the South Korean army a drill to neutralize poisonous chemicals on March 25 as part of the large-scale joint military exercises now under way throughout South Korea, according to Seoul-based Radio No. 1.
The warmongers were busy fanning up an atmosphere of chemical warfare after mobilizing the 23rd chemical unit of the U.S. forces, a chemical unit under the South Korean army headquarters for the defense of waters off Mokpho and another chemical unit under the 31st division of the South Korean army with an aim to "increase the joint operational capability to repel the enemy's chemical attack and acquire the ability to command units in a wartime."
Struggle against joint military drills in S. Korea
Pyongyang, March 28 (KCNA) -- South Korean students and members of a social organization forced their way into the building of the "Ministry of National Defense" and held a demonstration, opposing the joint military exercises of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean warmongers on Mar. 26, according to a news report.
Breaking through the check-point of guards, they went into the front-gate of the building and scattered copies of a statement, shouting slogans "no the introduction of F-15K fighters", "no the South Korea-U.S. joint drills" and "renegotiation on the joint land management plan".
Upset by this, the police authorities sent a police force to take all of them away.
By the police crackdown, video cameras of reporters covering the demonstration were broken down and one of them was wounded.
Papers welcome goodwill envoy of Indonesian people
Pyongyang, March 28 (KCNA) -- Papers here today editorially welcome the official goodwill Korea visit by Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri at the invitation of president Kim Yong Nam of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly.
Rodong Sinmun says that the DPRK-Indonesia friendly relations are traditional friendly and cooperative relations based on the close relationship that existed between President Kim Il Sung and President Sukarno.
Her visit to the DPRK marks an important occasion of putting the DPRK-Indonesia friendly relations on a new higher stage and inspires the Korean people in their efforts to accelerate the building of a powerful socialist nation and achieve national reunification, the paper says, and goes on:
The Indonesian people are making energetic efforts to build a new society.
The new Indonesian government headed by President Megawati Soekarnoputri set out a plan to build a modern, just and prosperous new society in conformity with the spirit of the state idea "Pancasila" and has made positive efforts to materialize it.
The Indonesian government is striving to prevent national division and protect territorial integrity on the principle of preserving the unified state.
Externally the Indonesian government has maintained the principle of neither forming any military alliance with any other country nor allowing foreign countries to establish military bases in its country.
The Korean people have paid attention to the efforts of the Indonesian government and people for the stability and progress of the country and sincerely wish them great success.
Minju Joson says that the Korean people set store by the DPRK-Indonesia friendly relations forged by the preceding leaders of the two countries and will steadily develop them.
U.S. "anti-terrorism war" denounced
Pyongyang, March 28 (KCNA) -- The U.S. is keen to massively escalate the "anti-terrorism war" to bring dark clouds of a new cold war to hang over the world.
"We have entered the second phase of the anti-terrorism war", said U.S. President Bush on March 11. In his "state of the union address" he singled out North Korea, Iran and Iraq as members of "the axis of evil" and declared a self-righteous, unilateral and all-out "anti-terrorism war" by asserting that "The United States regards the world as a battlefield."
This is little short of the United States' open declaration of a war against the world.
The U.S. "anti-terrorism war" is, in essence, aimed to carry out its strategy for world domination as it is designed to dominate by force those sovereign countries advancing independently defying high-handed practices of the U.S., contain and bring under its control other big powers, its rivals, and make the whole world move under its baton.
The U.S. undisguised attempt to invade the DPRK is not related to the issue of any weapons or "terrorism" but a revelation of its wild design to seize the whole Korean peninsula, a strategic vantage in the Asia-Pacific region, in a bid to put it under its political and military domination.
That was why Bush listed the DPRK as its "principal enemy" right after his assumption of office and undisguisedly disclosed his attempt to attack the DPRK, escalating the "anti-terrorism war" worldwide with the "September 11 incident" as a good opportunity.
The "Afghan War" which the U.S. describes as "victorious" is, in fact, a "test war", a "preliminary war" to strike the DPRK.
The U.S. has already decided to mobilize at least 690,000 aggression troops, over 160 warships of various types including aircraft carriers and at least 1,600 fighters including F-18 fighter bombers in case of emergency on the Korean peninsula.
It was against this backdrop that the bush administration recently drew up an emergency plan for the use of nuclear weapons against at least seven countries including the DPRK, Russia and china and issued an order to manufacture smaller nuclear weapons necessary to implement the plan.
The U.S. listing of Russia and China as targets of its nuclear war scenario suggests that its "anti-terrorism war" is also targeted against other big powers and it is a product of the U.S. aggressive foreign policy to dominate the whole world.
Precisely for this reason the bush administration is putting spurs to the arms build-up after submitting to the congress its defense budget for the fiscal 2003 envisaging military spending to the tune of 379 billion U.S. dollars, the largest in 20 years.
The U.S. is working hard to escalate the "anti-terrorism war" worldwide under the pretext of "destroying" the "Al-Qaida".
The U.S. "anti-terrorism war" is a war of injustice as it grossly violates the principles of respect for state sovereignty and non-interference in other's internal affairs, the supreme principle governing the international relations, and an inhuman criminal act of seriously breaching the principle of territorial integrity and the principle of banning the threat by force of arms and the use of armed forces, a cornerstone for ensuring international peace and stability.
The U.S. "anti-terrorism war" is bound to go bankrupt and leave an indelible blot in the world history of war in face of the strong anti-war, anti-U.S. trend of the times.
Rare bird sent to Central Zoo
Pyongyang, March 28 (KCNA) -- Strix Uralensis, an owl found its nest in the Central Zoo in Pyongyang.
Its forehead is deep brown and neck is white dotted with brownish patterns.
Longitudinal stripes against white background seen on its back and abdomen distinguish it from all other owls.
According to information available, the bird appeared in Korea in Juche 1 (1912) for the first time and in Juche 9 (1920) for the second time.
It was believed to be an extinct bird so far but it was discovered in the area around Mt. Paektu recently and sent to the Central Zoo.
Unusual memory of Kim Il Sung
Pyongyang, March 28 (KCNA) -- There is a limit to man's memory.
But the memory of President Kim Il Sung was beyond imagination.
This is clearly proved by his reminiscences "With The Century," which progressive humankind highly praised as an "immortal library of revolution."
He began to write his reminiscences in his eighties but remembered every detail of what happened in his childhood and the days of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle.
The reminiscences deals in detail with the books which he read to find a new way of revolution and their contents, events and incidents that took place at home and abroad, those people related to them and all the things that happened in the period of underground and armed struggles.
The reminiscences clearly mentions the names, the appearance and habits of members of revolutionary organizations and guerrillas and gives detailed accounts of conversations he had with them.
It is thanks to his memory that the anti-Japanese revolutionary fighters who died scores of years ago without leaving even a single photo lie in state for perpetuity in the revolutionary martyrs' cemetery. Their gravestones bear the dates they joined the guerrilla army and they fell in action, their merits and their portraits truly depicting their looks and even their lips when they smiled.
And he attained mastery of not only philosophy, political economy, literature and arts but history, law, philology and theories of building party, state and army and had a good memory of all matters related to natural science and technology which he once studied including mathematics, physics and chemistry.
Indeed, this unusual memory was his inborn disposition.
Pyongyang University of Agriculture
Pyongyang, March 28 (KCNA) -- Pyongyang University of Agriculture recently developed natural liquid for tissue cultivation of virus-free potatoes and established the seed production system and the method of cultivation of the first filial generation with potato seeds.
The university trains students as agro-scientists and agricultural technicians in need for rural villages on the outskirts of Pyongyang.
The university situated in Ryongsong district, northwestern part of Pyongyang, was founded on March 28, Juche 70 (1981).
The university with a total floor space of 67,000 square meters has eight- and six-storeyed buildings, a dormitory, an auditorium, a library and a canteen.
It boasts of agricultural, farm machine, veterinary and livestock and agro-biology faculties and other chairs and courses.
And it has an agro-scientific institute and a doctoral institute.
Indonesian President arrives here
Pyongyang, March 28 (KCNA) -- Megawati Soekarnoputri, President of the Republic of Indonesia, arrived here today by a special plane to pay an official goodwill visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea at the invitation of Kim Yong Nam, President of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly.
Accompanying Megawati were her husband Taufiq Kiemas, foreign minister Nur Hassan Virayuda, minister of state for research, science and technology Hatta Rajasa, minister of state for communications and information Syamsul Muarif, secretary of the state and the cabinet Bambang Kesowo and others.
Thousands of Pyongyang citizens turned out to the airport to welcome them carrying flags of the two countries and bunches of flowers in their hands.
Present there to greet the guests were President Kim Yong Nam, foreign minister Paek Nam Sun, minister of foreign trade Ri Kwang Gun, chairman of the DPRK information committee and minister of culture Kang Nung Su, President of the Academy of Sciences Ri Kwang Ho and officials concerned.
Ambassador Buchari effendi and staff members of the indonesian embassy here and diplomatic envoys of various countries were on hand.
A welcoming ceremony took place at the airport.
After the playing of the national anthems of the two countries, Megawati Soekarnoputri together with Kim Yong Nam reviewed a guard of honor of the three services of the Korean People's Army.
A woman worker presented Megawati with a bouquet while the crowd warmly welcomed her and her party.
The car carrying Kim and Megawati headed for downtown Pyongyang.
Indonesian President visits Kumsusan Memorial Palace
Pyongyang, March 28 (KCNA) -- Megawati Soekarnoputri, President of Indonesia, and her party today visited the Kumsusan Memorial Palace to pay homage to President Kim Il Sung.
Accompanying them were President Kim Yong Nam of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly and officials concerned.
A guard of honour of the three services of the Korean People's Army lined up by the statue of the president.
A floral basket was laid before the statue in the name of the Indonesian President.
She entered the hall where the president, who provided the historic roots of the DPRK-Indonesia friendship and performed the immortal feats, lies in state for perpetuity.
She paid homage to the president in humble reverence.
She made an entry in the visitor's book.
Death-defying resistance against U.S. and Bush called for
Pyongyang, March 28 (KCNA) -- The central committee of the National Democratic Front of South Korea (NDFSK) issued a letter calling upon all the Koreans to turn out in death-defying resistance against the U.S. and Bush in connection with the grave situation prevailing on the Korean peninsula.
Pak Kwang Gi, chief of the Pyongyang mission of the NDFSK, read out the letter at a press conference held here with Korean and foreign reporters.
The letter said:
The Koreans' struggle against the U.S. triggered off by Bush's reckless remarks on the "axis of evil" and his visit to Seoul is developing to be a struggle to smash the U.S. imperialists' undisguised moves to provoke a nuclear war.
Dark clouds of a nuclear war are gathering over the Korean Peninsula to threaten the very existence of our nation.
A military threat and blackmail against the north is a declaration of war against the people in South Korea and a nuclear attack on the north is a move to bring a nuclear holocaust to the Korean Peninsula to exterminate the nation.
The Korean people should curb and frustrate the U.S. plot to provoke a war of aggression through a nation-wide struggle.
In order to protect the security of the nation and make South Korea independent it is necessary to seek the withdrawal of the U.S. forces from there and the dismantling of their nuclear bases and check and frustrate the U.S. moves to force South Korea to buy weapons and introduce lethal weapons into there.
The Koreans should smash the cooperation with the U.S. in war moves and turn out in a just struggle to realize cooperation with fellow countrymen for peace and reunification.
The anti-U.S., anti-Bush struggle is to defend and implement the June 15 joint declaration.
The Koreans should check the u.s. political intervention and defeat pro-U.S. henchman Ri Hoe Chang in the presidential election and thus completely eliminate him from the political arena.
The victory in the anti-U.S. struggle is guaranteed by the unity of the national democratic movement.
The letter called upon various anti-U.S. fighting organizations to frustrate the U.S. imperialists' war exercises and moves to perpetuate their occupation of South Korea and hinder the implementation of the June 15 joint declaration and undertake a more vigorous struggle to force the U.S. imperialists to pull their aggressor forces and nuclear weapons out of this land.
The participants watched a video tape on which part of the South Korean people's fierce struggle against the U.S. and Bush is recorded.
Mongolian party delegation pays homage to Kim Il Sung
Pyongyang, March 28 (KCNA) -- The delegation of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party led by General Secretary D. Idevkhten yesterday visited the Kumsusan Memorial Palace where President Kim Il Sung lies in state for perpetuity to pay homage to him.
The guests made bows to him with profound respect for him, who made immortal contributions to the development of the friendly relations between the two countries and the implementation of the human cause for independence.
Then they looked round orders and medals he received from different countries and the mourning hall.
They also saw with keen interest a train and a car he used during his on-site guidance and foreign tour and in his last days.
DPRK order to Indonesian President
Pyongyang, March 28 (KCNA) -- A ceremony for conferring the DPRK order on Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri took place at the Mansudae Assembly Hall today.
A decree of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly was read out and President Kim Yong Nam awarded the DPRK order of National Flag First Class to Megawati in recognition of her activities to consolidate and develop generation after generation the long-standing relations of friendship and cooperation between the two countries with her deep respect and reverence for President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il.
Present were foreign minister Paek Nam Sun, minister of foreign trade Ri Kwang Gun, minister of culture Kang Nung Su who is chairman of the DPRK information committee and officials concerned.
Also on hand were her husband Taufiq Kiemas, foreign minister Nur Hassan Wirayuda, minister of state for research, science and technology Hatta Rajasa, minister of state for communications and information Syamsul Muarif and others.
Talks held between Kim Yong Nam and Megawati Soekarnoputri
Pyongyang, March 28 (KCNA) -- Talks were held between Kim Yong Nam, President of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, and Megawati Soekarnoputri, President of the Republic of Indonesia, at the Mansudae Assembly Hall today.
At the talks the two sides exchanged views on further expanding the traditional relations of friendship and cooperation between the two countries on the basis of the particular relations of the preceding leaders in keeping with the requirements of the new century and on a series of issues of common concern and reached the consensus of the issues raised.
Present at the talks on the DPRK side were foreign minister Paek Nam Sun, minister of foreign trade Ri Kwang Gun, minister of culture Kang Nung Su who is chairman of the DPRK information committee, and other officials concerned.
On the opposite side were foreign minister Nur Hassan Wirayuda, minister of state for research, science and technology Hatta Rajasa, minister of state for communications and information Syamsul Muarif, and others.
The talks proceeded in a friendly atmosphere.
Indonesian President pays courtesy call on Kim Yong Nam
Pyongyang, March 28 (KCNA) -- Megawati Soekarnoputri, President of the Republic of Indonesia, today paid a courtesy call on Kim Yong Nam, President of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly.
Present were her husband Taufiq Kiemas, foreign minister Nur Hassan Wirayuda and her party.
Foreign minister Paek Nam Sun, minister of foreign trade Ri Kwang Gun and minister of culture and chairman of the DPRK information committee Kang Nung Su were also present.
Kim Yong Nam had a talk with Megawati Soekarnoputri in a friendly atmosphere.