U.S. urged to act with discretion
Pyongyang, May 11 (KCNA) -- The United States decided to send carrier "Kitty Hawk," a cruiser and other warships to the waters off South Korea from the Yokosuka Base in Japan and, at the same time, to dispatch Awacs and a unit for chemical or biological warfare deployed in the Kadena airbase in Okinawa to South Korea during the World Cup under the pretext of "anti-terrorism."
In this regard Minju Joson in a signed commentary says:
The U.S. claims that this military development is meant to "cope with threat of terrorism" during the World Cup. But this is nothing but a sinister intention to stage a new sabre rattling to stifle the DPRK under the signboard of the championships.
A good atmosphere of reconciliation, cooperation and peace is now prevailing on the Korean Peninsula thanks to the positive efforts on the part of the DPRK to warm the inter-Korean relations and contribute to the global peace and stability. Much upset by this, the U.S. has decided to reinforce its armed forces in South Korea under the pretext of "surveillance" during the world cup in a bid to turn the present situation in its favour at any cost.
It is quite clear that its moves would not only create an atmosphere of confrontation and escalate the military confrontation between the north and the south to disturb the regional stability but have a baneful impact on the World Cup.
The U.S. will be entirely to blame for this as it is keen on all high-handed and arbitrary practices to serve its interests only.
The world is going in for peace, reconciliation and cooperation despite the complicated international situation.
The U.S. is well advised to act with discretion, facing up to the present trend of the times.
Papers welcome goodwill mission of Lao people
Pyongyang, May 11 (KCNA) -- Papers here today editorially welcome the Korea visit of the Lao government delegation headed by prime minister Boungnang Vorachith.
Rodong Sinmun in an editorial says that the two peoples established the close ties of friendship through the joint struggle against imperialism.
The editorial continues:
The Korea visit of the Lao people's goodwill mission is an expression of support and encouragement to the Korean people in their just struggle for socialism and a manifestation of development of the DPRK-Laos friendly relations.
The Lao people are carrying forward the cause of President Kaysone Phomvihane and consolidating and developing the people's democratic system in conformity with the specific conditions of Laos under the leadership of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party.
The government and people of Laos have consistently maintained the foreign policy of peace, independence, friendship and cooperation based on the principles of respect for independence and sovereignty, non-interference in other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefits and kept the close relations with Asian countries.
The Korean people express firm solidarity with the Lao people in their struggle to build a new prosperous Laos and wish them new success in their future struggle. Developing the DPRK-Laos friendship will contribute to accelerating the revolution and construction in the two countries and building a new independent and prosperous Asia.
Minju Joson in an editorial notes that the Workers' Party of Korea and the DPRK government value the traditional relations of friendship with the Lao people and will continue striving to boost them.
Sports festival of workers held
Pyongyang, May 11 (KCNA) -- A national sports festival of workers took place on the occasion of the 90th birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung.
The festival was held in Pyongyang in the form of football, basketball, volleyball and Korean wrestling competitions among provincial players who were sifted out in city, county and provincial games from March 10.
Pyongyang took the first place, North Phyongan Province the second and south Hamgyong Province the third.
A closing ceremony took place at the Pyongyang Indoor Stadium yesterday.
Present at the ceremony were premier of the cabinet Hong Song Nam, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea Kim Jung Rin and others.
KCNA urges Japan to settle its past
Pyongyang, May 11 (KCNA) -- The issue of Japan's settlement of its past has become not only a regional issue in Asia but a serious international issue.
This was clearly evidenced by the fact that the "Asian regional symposium demanding Japan's liquidation of its past" was held in Pyongyang recently to disclose the crimes imperial Japan committed in Korea and other Asian countries after invading them in the last century.
As already known, the issue has not surfaced today. It has long been seriously dealt with not only by the victimized countries but by different international organizations including the UN and non-governmental organizations.
It is because Japan's crimes were very serious slavery and war crimes against humanity as it wantonly violated the justice and morality of the international community and international laws by most wantonly infringing upon the rights of the Koreans and other Asian people.
Japan should apologize and settle all its crimes in view of their gravity and unethical nature.
However, Japan is still working hard to justify, distort and cover up its past crimes, although over half a century has passed since the end of the war and the world has entered the second year of the new century, in a bid to keep those crimes buried in oblivion and evade an apology and compensation for them.
What merits a serious attention is the fact that it has never made any sincere apology and compensation to the victims in the DPRK, the biggest victim of Japan, and its Korean victims.
Japan refuses to repent of its inglorious past while seeking the leadership of the world. This is very abnormal which can never be pardoned by the international community.
Germany made an official state apology for the war and paid more than 60 billion dollars to the countries and individuals that fell victim to its war crimes and is now taking additional measures for compensation. Not only Italy and other countries which followed Germany during the war but neutral and victor nations officially clarified their stand on wartime crimes and redeemed them according to responsibility for them. And this process is going on.
It is only Japan that is sidestepping the redress for its past.
This can not be construed otherwise than a total negation of its defeat in the war and the history of its aggression and crimes and a challenge to the need of the new century.
The issue of Japan's settlement of its past has become an international issue today, which reflects the desire of progressive humankind aspiring after peace against war.
Japan is well advised to make a proper political decision as regards the issue, bearing deep in mind that a sincere apology and compensation for its past would be an important option for its benefit.
International symposium of world revolutionary political parties held
Pyongyang, May 11 (KCNA) -- An international symposium of world revolutionary political parties on the economic crisis deepening due to the "globalization" of the imperialists was held in Brussels from May 2 to 4 under the sponsorship of the Belgian Labour Party.
Participating in the symposium were delegates of over 70 political parties from 37 countries including the DPRK, Russia, Cuba, Laos, Britain, Italy, France and Germany.
The symposium heard speeches made on the subjects "cause and inevitability of the economic crisis in the capitalist countries", "tasks of revolutionary political parties to counter 'globalization'", "inevitability of anti-'globalization' campaign and class struggle against imperialism", etc.
Speakers said that all the anti-imperialist, independent forces of the world should wage a joint struggle under a common programme to cope with the present situation where the U.S. high-handed acts have become more undisguised since the "September 11 incident".
Noting that it is the common task and duty for the world revolutionary political parties aspiring after independence and progress to defend Korean socialism, a bulwark of the world socialist movement, they called for intensifying the solidarity campaign in support of the Korean people's just cause.
A Brussels statement and other documents were adopted there.
It is not the DPRK but the U.S. that is threatening peace on the Korean Peninsula today, the statement noted, and continued:
We resolutely denounce the anti-DPRK hostile policy stepped up by the Bush administration to stifle it by force after singling out this peace-loving country as a member of the "axis of evil" and hold that Korea should be reunified independently and peacefully according to the will of the Korean nation in the spirit of the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration.
For lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula, we strongly urge the U.S. to withdraw its nuclear weapons and armed forces from South Korea at an early date and immediately stop driving the South Korean bellicose forces to the confrontation with the DPRK.
S. Korean students inaugurate anti-U.S. action group
Pyongyang, May 11 (KCNA) -- Students under the South Korean Federation of University Student Councils reportedly held an inaugural ceremony of an anti-U.S. action group for the implementation of the June 15 joint declaration, The U.S. drop of its hard-line policy toward the north and the frustration of its moves to provoke a nuclear war in Seoul on May 4.
At the ceremony, the anti-U.S. action group made up of members of the Kwangju and South Jolla Provincial Federation of University Student Councils, the Seoul District Federation of University Student Councils and the Southern Kyonggi Provincial Federation of University Student Councils declared that its anti-U.S. struggle is sure to triumph as it is just.
A resolution of the group calling for struggles against the U.S. and Ri Hoe Chang was read out there.
At the end of the ceremony, the participants conducted propaganda against Ri Hoe Chang and the introduction of "F-15K" before marching through streets.
Japan's sexual slavery under fire
Pyongyang, May 11 (KCNA) -- Survivors of Japanese imperialists' crimes bitterly condemned Japan at the Asian regional symposium demanding Japan's liquidation of its past held in Pyongyang recently.
They testified to the Japanese imperialists' past crimes on the basis of their experiences.
Kwak Kum Nyo, victim of Japan's crime related to "comfort women for the army," branded Japs as her sworn enemy who violated her physically when she was young, thus preventing her from getting married. She earnestly appealed to the public to lift voices condemning the Japanese imperialists' crimes and help her give vent to her bitter grudge.
Kim Yong Suk testified to the fact that she was taken by force to a "comfort station" of the Japanese army in Shenyang, China, at the age of 12 where her chastity was cruelly violated. I will never forget it and take revenge upon Japan at any cost, she added.
Philippine woman Julia Foras testified to the aftereffects of the sex slavery forced upon her by the Japanese imperialists when she was 13. She bitterly cursed the Japanese soldiers who reduced her to a cripple and Japan where their descendants live.
Indonesian woman Mardiem recalled that her hope of becoming a stage actress in her girlhood was dashed by the Japanese imperialists' outrage. In order to force Japan to pay for it I will not die before I see that country apologizing for its wrongs and punishing the criminals, she said.
An Song Duk, victim of forced drafting, testified to the fact that he was forced to do slave labour at a communications equipment assembling factory in Inchon city when he was 15. I cannot forget the untold misfortune and sufferings the Koreans underwent even if Japan apologizes for them a thousand times, he added.
Hwang Jong Su recalled that he was forced to toil and moil in Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan, subjected to inhuman treatment and insult. He testified to the fact that a lot of young and middle-aged Koreans met grievous deaths there.
World media are giving wide coverage to their testimonies as they are a clear reminder of the Japanese imperialists' past crimes.
Unpardonable are the crimes committed by the Japanese imperialists in the last century.
Ri Hoe Chang's behaviour blasted
Pyongyang, May 11 (KCNA) -- The South Korean people are becoming increasingly critical of Ri Hoe Chang, an anti-reunification element.
The solidarity for implementing the south-north joint declaration in a statement recalled that Ri, making eyes at outside forces to get strong backing from them, is letting loose a string of piffle that the north has not kept its promises and it was impossible to expect any settlement of the "issue of weapons of mass destruction", and attributed these reckless remarks to his wild ambition to become "president" in utter disregard of the destiny of the nation.
The reunification solidarity for the implementation of the June 15 South-North Joint Declaration and peace on the Korean Peninsula in a statement said that it cannot repress bitter indignation at Ri who is engrossed in acts of treachery, visiting Bush to chime in with his argument about an "axis of evil".
The South Korean Federation of University Student Councils termed Ri's rash act a disgraceful behaviour intended to wrest the "right to enter Chongwadae" at the sacrifice of the nation.
The Chungchong Provincial Federation of University Student Councils stated that the wrath of students and all other people against Ri Hoe Chang's behaviour has reached an intolerable limit and the students under the Kwangju and South Jolla Provincial Federation of University Student Councils held a meeting at which they demanded him quit the political arena.
Ri hoe Chang denounced
Pyongyang, May 11 (KCNA) -- Rodong Sinmun today in a signed article discloses the true colors of Ri Hoe Chang, "presidential candidate" on the ticket of the "Grand National Party," as a wicked pro-U.S. and pro-Japanese traitor.
Born into a pro-Japanese traitor's family, Ri grew up, receiving pro-Japanese and flunkeyist education from his father, the article says, and continues:
During his recent junket to Japan, he did not hesitate to vilify the DPRK's political system, raising a hue and cry over someone's "threat of weapons of mass destruction."
His true colours as a pro-U.S. sycophantic traitor were brought into bolder relief soon after the appearance of the conservative Bush administration in the U.S.
He cried for "countering the nuclear development in the north" to please his master and adamantly opposed the withdrawal of the U.S. troops, the sworn enemy of the Korean people, from South Korea, asserting that the "pullback might distrub the security".
He stood against the June 15 joint declaration from the very day of its publication. watching the positive changes taking place in the north-south relations, he opposed the implementation of the declaration describing them as a "unilateral drain on resources".
Through the "progressive committee" of the GNP he recently worked out the "basic line on the north," a criminal document, inciting confrontation between the north and the south.
He is a fascist murderer and a kingpin of irregularities and corruption. He dreamed up a variety of cases such as "plot to overthrow the state" and "spying case" to punish and kill many democratic and patriotic figures, youth and students.
Early in the 1960s he sentenced those involved in the "case of Minjok Daily" to heavy penalties on unreasonable charges. He sentenced those involved in the arson attack on the "American Cultural Centre" in Pusan on March 18, 1982 to capital punishment.
Ri is a guy with a vulgar view on etiquette and morality and a most corrupt man.
He spent a staggering amount of ill-gotten money in each "presidential election" and "national assembly election" .
Terming Ri a foe of democracy, the nation and reunification and a top-class pro-U.S. and pro-Japanese sycophantic element bereft of morality and conscience, the article notes that the Korean nation will face nothing but misfortune as long as Ri is allowed to betray the nation and stand in the way of reunification, only seeking personal luxury and glory and power.
Lao government delegation arrives
Pyongyang, May 11 (KCNA) -- The Lao government delegation headed by prime minister Boungnang Vorachith arrived here today to pay an official goodwill visit to the DPRK at the invitation of the DPRK government.
The delegation includes wife of the prime minister, Soulivong Daravong, minister of industry and handicrafts, Phongsavath Boupha, vice-minister of foreign affairs, Sinlavong Khoutphaythoun, vice-minister and chief secretary of the prime minister's office of the government, Siaosavath Savengsuksa, vice-minister of trade, Savay Sayasena, chief secretary of the defence ministry and chief secretary of the national defence and security committee, and other suite members.
It was greeted at the airport by Hong Song Nam, premier of the DPRK cabinet, Ri Kwang Gun, minister of foreign trade and officials concerned and Chanpheng Sihaphom, Lao ambassador to the DPRK.
A welcome function took place at the airport.
Hong Song Nam meets Lao government delegation
Pyongyang, May 11 (KCNA) -- Premier Hong Song Nam of the DPRK cabinet met and had a friendly talk with the Lao government delegation headed by Prime Minister Boungnang Vorachith who paid a courtesy call on him at the Mansudae Assembly Hall today.
Present there were minister of foreign trade Ri Kwang Gun, vice-minister of foreign affairs Kim Yong Il and Chanpheng Sihaphom, Lao ambassador to the DPRK.
KEDO delegation leaves
Pyongyang, May 11 (KCNA) -- The KEDO delegation left here today by air after participating in the negotiations of experts for the implementation of the agreement on the provision of light water reactors signed between the DPRK and the KEDO.
Pak Kun Hye of S. Korea arrives
Pyongyang, May 11 (KCNA) -- Pak Kun Hye, member of the National Assembly of South Korea and chairperson of the preparatory committee for founding the "Union for the Future of Korea", and her party arrived here today at the invitation of the DPRK National Reconciliation Council.
They were met at the airport by Kim Yong Dae, chairman of the c.c., the Korean Social Democratic Party who is also chairman of the council, Kim Wan Su, vice department director of the C.C., Workers' Party of Korea, and officials concerned.