Kim Yong Nam meets Syrian senior officials
Damascus, July 17 (KCNA correspondent) -- Kim Yong Nam, President of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, respectively met and had a friendly talk with Abdullah al-Ahmar, deputy general secretary of the Arab Socialist Baath Party of Syria, Abdul Kader Kaddoura, President of the People's Assembly of Syria, and Muhammad Mustafa Miro, prime minister, on July 17.
Present on the occasion were Kim's party and Syrian officials.
Kim Yong Nam visits mausoleum of ex-Syrian President
Damascus, July 17 (KCNA correspondent) -- Kim Yong Nam, President of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, Wednesday laid a wreath before the mausoleum of Hafex al Assad, ex-president of Syria, in Qardaha, Latakia Province.
Accompanying him were DPRK minister of foreign trade Ri Kwang Gun, president of the Academy of Sciences Ri Kwang Ho, acting chairman of the Korean Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries Mun Jae Chol, DPRK ambassador e.p. to Syria Kim Hyong Jun, and suite members.
Kim Yong Nam together with his party laid a wreath in his name and observed a moment's silence before the mausoleum.
They looked round the mausoleum.
Inter-sector talks held between DPRK and Syria
Damascus, July 17 (KCNA correspondent) -- Inter-sector talks between the DPRK and Syria were held in Damascus on Wednesday.
Both sides exchanged views on further developing the traditional relations of friendship, unity and cooperation forged between the two countries in the common struggle against imperialism and for independence in the 21st century, and other international issues of common concern and reached a consensus in the discussed matters.
Talks were held by foreign minister Paek Nam Sun, minister of foreign trade Ri Kwang Gun, president of Academy of Sciences Ri Kwang Ho, acting chairman of the Korean Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries Mun Jae Chol, vice-minister of public health Choe Chang Sik from the DPRK side. Their Syrian partners were deputy prime minister of the Cabinet and minister of foreign affairs Farouk al-Shara, chairman of the Syrian Arab-Korea Friendship Association and director of the department of finance and labour of the Arab Socialist Baath Party Wolid Hamdoun, director of the department of higher education and scientific research of the party Muhammad Gias Barakat, minister of higher education Hassan Risha, minister of economy and foreign trade Ghassam al Rifai, minister of public health Muhammad Iyad Ash-Shatti and director of the scientific research center Omar Armanazi.
Talks were held in a friendly atmosphere.
Kwak Pom Bi meets Chinese delegation
Pyongyang, July 18 (KCNA) -- Vice-premier Kwak Pom Bi Thursday met the visiting delegation of the state administration of quality supervision and inspection and quarantine of China led by Wang Fengqing, chief administrator of the certification and accreditation administration, at the People's Palace of Culture.
Present at the meeting were director of the bureau of state quality control Kim Hyong Chol and Chinese ambassador to the DPRK Wu Donghe.
The head of the delegation said the friendly relations between the two countries were provided by the preceding leaders and that the relations should steadily be carried forward in the future, too.
He wished the Korean people greater success in socialist construction under the wise leadership of Kim Jong Il.
DPRK ambassador to Australia appointed
Pyongyang, July 18 (KCNA) -- Chon Jae Hong was appointed as DPRK ambassador e.p. to Australia according to a decree of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly.
Gift to Kim Jong Il
Pyongyang, July 18 (KCNA) -- Kim Jong Il received a gift from the All-China Journalists Association.
The gift was handed to an official concerned by Li Cun Hou, executive secretary of the association who is heading its delegation on a visit to the DPRK.
Single-hearted unity of Korean people lauded
Pyongyang, July 18 (KCNA) -- Mohamed Dioue Fofana, secretary general of the African regional committee for the study of the Juche idea, said that during his visit to the DPRK he felt that the single-hearted unity of the Korean people is more powerful than A-bomb.
In a statement issued in Conakry on July 4, he said:
In the DPRK I saw the parade of the Worker-Peasant Red Guards, mass gymnastic and artistic performance "Arirang", evening gala and torchlight procession of youth and students. Such magnificent spectacles can neither be found nor imitated in the west that boasts of modern civilization.
The leader regards and loves the servicemen and people as his comrades and teachers while the latter respects and holds the former in high esteem as leader and father, the laudable traits which can be seen only in the DPRK.
The history of Korea from the years of Arirang of sorrow to the era of Arirang of a powerful and prosperous nation shows that the country where the people and their leader are in perfect harmony emerges victorious, he added.
He said that slanders made by the U.S. and other western countries against the DPRK are no more than a shriek of those terrified at the might of Korean socialism advancing victoriously.
Architectural festival held
Pyongyang, July 18 (KCNA) -- The second "May 21 architectural festival" was held here from July 15 to 17.
The festival drew architects, technicians, teachers and researchers in the fields of architectural construction and designing, architectural science and education from across the country.
A national symposium on architectural construction, exhibitions of architectural designs and a national exhibition on the modernization of architectural construction and designing were held during the festival.
110 papers were examined at the architectural, construction structural and building materials panel discussions and successful ones made public there.
On display at the exhibition of architectural designs to preserve revolutionary relics in their original state were more than 100 successful designs contributed to it by those from various parts of the country.
Scores of designs were displayed at the county township and rural village layout design exhibition.
The national exhibition on the modernization of architectural construction and designing showcased achievements made in the process of applying computer design technique to architectural designing and developing it our own way to meet the requirement of the it era.
A closing ceremony of the festival took place at the People's Palace of Culture Wednesday.
New hotel appears
Pyongyang, July 18 (KCNA) -- The newly built Kanggye Inphung Hotel began service.
The hotel, made up of 10-storey twin buildings, is standing on the bank of the River Jangja to match the picturesque Inphung pavilion, one of the famous eight scenic spots in North and South Phyongan Provinces and Jagang Province.
Giving on-site guidance to Jagang Province in January Juche 87 (1998), leader Kim Jong Il gave an instruction to build the hotel into a modern one to perfectly blend with the natural and geographical features.
The hotel with a total floor space of over 9,250 square meters has nearly 200 well furnished and decorated rooms.
It is equipped with all modern facilities.
New method of medical treatment developed
Pyongyang, July 18 (KCNA) -- Pyongyang City People's Hospital No. 3 recently developed a new method of treating prostatic hypertrophy with the help of high frequency coaglatio and introduced it to clinical practice.
The method proved to be more efficient than the previous method.
Earlier, the hospital successfully introduced a new method of treating hemorrhoids and a new method of operating on gall inflammation and cholelithiasis cases into clinical practice.
The hospital in Kwangbok Street, Pyongyang was opened in November of Juche 84 (1995).
Its total floor space is over 17,000 square meters.
Having scores of clinical and medicinal departments, the hospital is fully equipped with modern facilities and medical appliances.
Its major medical equipment is a patriotic contribution made by members of the Korean Christian Medical Council in North America.
The hospital is popular for its good service as it applies advanced methods of diagnosis and treatment and combines traditional Koryo and modern medical treatment.
Korea's reunification supported abroad
Pyongyang, July 18 (KCNA) -- Ugandan minister of state for water, lands and environment Baguma Isoke who is chairman of the Ugandan national committee for the study of the Juche idea and secretary of the C.C., the Revolutionary Socialist Party of India Abani Roy held that Korea's reunification should be realized according to the three principles of national reunification and the June 15 inter-Korean joint declaration.
This stand was clarified in statements issued on July 12 as regards the memorandum released by the DPRK government on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the July 4 joint statement.
Baguma Isoke praised President Kim Il Sung as the great lodestar of national reunification, and said that the June 15 joint declaration, a declaration of independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity, was provided thanks to the strong will and patriotic great bold decision of Kim Jong Il.
He expressed belief that the Korean people would achieve the reunification of the country, the cherished desire of the nation, at an early date by thoroughly implementing the joint declaration based on the three principles of national reunification, by the concerted efforts of the nation.
Abani Roy expressed full support for the stand of the DPRK government clarified in the memorandum, stressing that Korea's reunification should be achieved according to the three principles of national reunification--independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity--and the joint declaration based on the principles under any circumstances.
The U.S. should pull its troops and all the lethal weapons out of south Korea at an early date so as to ensure the independent reunification of Korea, he urged.
U.S. anti-DPRK policy blasted
Pyongyang, July 18 (KCNA) -- The policy pursued by the United States to stifle the DPRK will never do Washington good and it, therefore, should rectify the policy and opt for pulling its troops out of south Korea.
This would be a right option in view of its national interests. Rodong Sinmun today says this in a signed article.
It goes on:
The U.S. imperialists' attempt to stifle the DPRK by force of arms is a daydream. If they use military power in order to put it into practice, they will be hit harder than anyone else by the war.
The U.S. had better know that no one of the U.S. expeditionary force will be able to go back alive if it invades the DPRK.
It is the faith of the DPRK that the end of Korea would be followed by the end of the U.S. and the earth.
The U.S. imperialists' start of a war in Korea would be as foolish an adventure as bringing a holocaust to their land.
It is in the interests of the Americans for the U.S. imperialists to stop their reckless war moves against the DPRK and pull their forces out of south Korea.
Their withdrawal from south Korea would mean the removal of the biggest hotbed of war in the world.
If the U.S. sincerely hopes for peace on the Korean Peninsula, it should opt for the disengagement of its troops.
One more U.S. anti-DPRK crime disclosed
Pyongyang, July 18 (KCNA) -- The truth about an "Armed operational unit", which had been dispatched to the DPRK by the United States from the 1950s to the 1970s, was recently disclosed to spark public furor.
According to a news report, the number of armed bandits that infiltrated into the north of Korea from 1950 to 1956 is estimated to be about 3,000. Those bandits were trained at the "intelligence unit of the South Korea-U.S. joint advisors' group" organized by the South Korean branch of the U.S. CIA. This unit's actions had been kept secret since 1956.
Such facts have been disclosed by those who committed acts of destroying military facilities, murder, abduction and information gathering after infiltrating into the northern half of Korea.
Meanwhile, the number of the armed bandits sent to the north by a relevant organ of the South Korean army at the instigation of the U.S. imperialists, reached thousands of men, counting only those confirmed.
A National Assemblyman from the Democratic Party of South Korea, who belongs to the unification, foreign affairs and trade committee of the assembly, told its session held on October 20, 2000, that out of those bandits dispatched from 1953 after the Korean War until the publication of the July 4, 1972, south-north joint statement, 7,726 have not come back yet. And he made public the list of 366 of them.
This was the first time that the truth about the "Anti-north armed operational unit" was disclosed at the South Korean "National Assembly."
Later, more information about it was made public.
According to it, the South Korean army had its own plan to train terrorists at the "High Intelligence Agency", independent of the U.S. forces' operation, and infiltrated them into the northern half of the country. Most of them came through land and some others from sea and air, from 1952. from March 1954 it infiltrated them into the north in the guise of "civilians."
This agency, code-named "Army Unit No.4863", had 30 groups at that time, the largest of which were No.1 education group in Jongrung, Seoul, and the intelligence training school in South Korean Kangwon Province.
Renamed "Army Intelligence Unit" in 1967, the agency had pursued such training and dispatch of bandits until 1978.
The South Korean Navy, too, had an "Armed Operational Unit" called "Unit for Underwater Destruction."
The South Korean authorities kept mum about such facts. But, this issue could not but be dealt with at a meeting of officials concerned of the "ministry of national defense" on October 3, 2000, as organizations were formed to call for confirming the whereabouts of "armed operatives" and compensating for them and it was put under debate at the "National Assembly."
GIs' massacres and use of bio-weapons during Korean War disclosed
Pyongyang, July 18 (KCNA) -- In the last Korean War the U.S. forces massacred inhabitants and used biological weapons in the northern half of Korea. Data concerning the crimes were recently made public in the United States, according news reports.
S. Harrison, an American researcher on Korean affairs, said "GIs used biological weapons in North Korea." The U.S. military authorities have asserted that Rogun-ri incident occurred in confusion by North Korean guerrillas who infiltrated into the area, hiding themselves among refugees, but the case was caused by Americans' racial discrimination against Asians, he added.
According to war records of the U.S. 24th Army Division, an order was issued to destroy all villages on either side of the road along which the division retreated from the northern half of Korea.
The war records of the U.S. 1st armored division note that an order was issued to reduce to ashes Pyongyang, Hungnam and Wonsan. Another official document says that from the outset of the war, the GIs destroyed villages with napalm bombs and attacked refugees if the "enemy" were believed to be among them.
Harrison also disclosed data on the massacres committed in Sinchon County.
The book "GIs and Biological Warfare--Secret of Cold War in Early Period on Korean Peninsula", published by Indiana University in 1998, says that American aircraft dropped germ-infected fleas, ticks and spiders on Pyongyang and other areas in the northern half of Korea, spreading diseases.
Two professors of Canada's York University who study the Asian history and military history released the results of their joint survey into data on the GIs' biological warfare.
According to the results, George Marshall, the then U.S. Secretary of Defense, was responsible for the plan on the use of biological weapons in the Korean War. He worked out a plan for development of germ weapons on October 27, 1950.
Succeeding to his post on December 31, 1951, Robert gave an instruction to step up the preparations for introducing germ weapons into the war, and the Chief Staff of the U.S. Air Force took up the development of strong offensive weapons which had never been used in action so far.
The germ weapons began to be used by combat units in March 1952 while researches were made into simultaneous use of nuclear and biological weapons.
It was one of many things showing the U.S. crimes that encephalitis was prevalent in Korea-China border areas in March 1952.
Anecdotes about Kim Il Sung
Pyongyang, July 18 (KCNA) -- On October 12, Juche 36 (1947), President Kim Il Sung participated in the inaugural ceremony of the Mangyongdae Revolutionary School and after a reception he looked round rooms of children.
Entering a room, the president found some orphans sitting in a depressed mood.
The moment they saw the president they raced towards him, calling him father, and burst into tears.
Leaving the room after a while, he told the officials accompanying him that mothers' visit to their children at the school should be put into consideration and that he would come to the school to enjoy every holiday with the orphans.
It was some days after the summer vocation began in Juche 37 (1948). The president phoned the headmaster of the school to ask what the orphans were doing during the vocation.
The headmaster answered that the children were enjoying themselves at the school. However, the president said that though they were spending joyful days they would feel lonely, so there should be something like sightseeing tour for them, while others go home.
He recommended the headmaster to take them to Mt. Kumgang and said that the children would feel the same as they were travelling with their parents and the headmaster would also be happy as if going sightseeing with his sons and daughters.
He also underscored the need to take care of them like their parents so that the children might not feel sad even a bit.
The next day, the children left for Mt. Kumgang, with larger baggages than those of others who went home.