Paek Nam Sun meets Chinese FM

Pyongyang, August 3 (KCNA) - DPRK foreign minister Paek Nam Sun who is participating in the 9th ministerial meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum met his Chinese counterpart Tang Jiaxuan in Bandar Seri Begawan of Brunei Darussalam on July 31. They exchanged views on the bilateral relations and on matters of mutual concern.
Saying that the traditional Sino-DPRK relations are growing stronger and developing as the days go by through the recent visits and meetings of the leaders of the two countries, the Chinese foreign minister stressed that the Communist Party and the government of China invariably set store by the Sino-DPRK friendship.

Talks held between DPRK foreign minister and EU delegation

Pyongyang, August 3 (KCNA) - Talks between the DPRK foreign minister and his party and the EU delegation were held in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam, on Thursday. At the talks both sides expressed satisfaction with the favorably developing relations between the DPRK and the European Union and exchanged views on a series of matters of mutual concern.
Present at the talks from the DPRK side were foreign minister Paek Nam Sun and his party and from the EU side were head of the EU delegation Javier Solana who is co-senior representative in charge of foreign affairs and security policy of the EU and members of the delegation.

Anniversary of Korean people's victory in war marked

    Pyongyang, August 3 (KCNA) - Rallies and lectures took place in Bangladesh, Italy, Romania, Egypt, Tanzania and Democratic Congo between July 20 and 24 on the occasion of the 49th anniversary of the victory of the Korean people in the Fatherland Liberation War. Speakers at the rallies said that the victory won by the Korean people under the wise leadership of president Kim Il Sung, a gifted strategist, showed that when the popular masses come out as one with arms in their hands under the wise guidance of an outstanding leader, they can defeat any formidable enemy.
    Noting that the DPRK has turned into an invincible country with the matchless armed forces under the army-based wise leadership of Kim Jong Il, they stressed that led by him, the Korean people would certainly reunify the country independently and peacefully.
    Lecturers in Democratic Congo, Egypt and Tanzania, referring to the brilliant victory won by the Korean people in the war, said that Kim Il Sung would always live in the hearts of the world progressives as the iron-willed commander who defeated two imperialisms in one generation and the anti-imperialist fighter who contributed to the human cause of independence.
    A letter to Kim Jong Il was adopted at the rally in Bangladesh.

Australian General-Governor meets DPRK ambassador

Pyongyang, August 3 (KCNA) - Australian General-Governor Peter Hollingworth, when receiving credentials from new DPRK ambassador e.p. to his country Chon Jae Hong on July 25, said that the government and people of Australia attached importance to the development of the relations with the DPRK. He hoped that the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries would grow stronger. He wished the Korean people success in their efforts to overcome the temporary economic difficulties, build a powerful country and achieve the inter-Korean reconciliation and peaceful reunification of the country.

Introduction of U.S. combat system protested

Pyongyang, August 3 (KCNA) - The joint measure committee for checking U.S. missile defense system and realizing peace and those people who work to achieve peace and reunification in south Korea held a rally on July 30 in protest against the moves of the south Korean ministry of defense to introduce the U.S. Aegis combat system, according to a news report. The participants said that the ministry's selection of the U.S. Aegis combat system is an indication that south Korea joins it. They sent a letter of protest to the ministry.
Earlier, no sooner had the ministry announced that the destroyers to be launched would be equipped with the U.S. combat system than the joint measure committee held a press conference, at which it demanded the withdrawal of the selection of the combat system and a halt to its introduction.

Ex-prime minister of Japan on Japan-DPRK relations

Pyongyang, August 3 (KCNA) - Ex-prime minister of Japan Tomiichi Murayama who is chairman of the People's Association for Promotion of Japan-DPRK Diplomatic Relations stressed that the association would make sustained efforts to establish Japan-DPRK diplomatic relations in the future, according to a KNS report from Tokyo. He made a speech at a reception given in Tokyo on July 29 to mark the second anniversary of the association.
He said that though the association was inaugurated in the year when the historic Pyongyang meeting took place, such difficult situation as the deadlock of the talks for improving the DPRK-U.S. relations, inter-Korean dialogue and those for establishing Japan-DPRK diplomatic relations was created after the emergence of the Tokyo government. As a result, the aim sought by the association in its early days remains unattained, he added.

Pyongyang meeting held

    Pyongyang, August 3 (KCNA) - In order to open up a decisive phase of independent national reunification it is necessary to remain true to the June 15 north-south joint declaration and implement it to the letter, holding aloft the banner of three charters for national reunification. This call was made by Yang Hyong Sop, alternate member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and vice-president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, in a report at a meeting of Pyongyangites at the People's Palace of Culture Saturday to mark the 5th anniversary of leader Kim Jong Il's work "Let us carry out the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung's instructions for national reunification."
    The work was made public on August 4, Juche 86 (1997). The three principles of national reunification--independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity, the 10-point programme for the great unity of the entire nation and the proposal for founding the Democratic Federal Republic of Koryo were formulated as the three charters for national reunification in the work.
    The reporter said the work serves as a programme for national reunification and a banner of giving a powerful impetus to our nation's movement for reunification which has entered a new historic phase.
    The historic Pyongyang meeting and the publication of the north-south joint declaration, which were the results of the wise leadership of Kim Jong Il, brought about a fresh turning-point in improving the inter-Korean relations and carrying out the cause of national reunification.
    He urged south Korea to firmly maintain the stand to implement the joint declaration under any circumstances, well aware that the preservation and implementation of the declaration would lead to the improved inter-Korean relations and the independent reunification of the nation.
    Blaming the United States for standing in the way of the Korean nation's cause of reunification, he continued:
    The U.S. should drop its foolish ambition to stifle socialism in the DPRK by force of arms and refrain from doing anything obstructive to achieving the unity and reunification of the Korean nation.
    Only when the U.S. does what it should do by remaining true to its commitments and obligations it had made as regards the DPRK-U.S. relations, is it possible to improve these ties in the bilateral interests.
    He called on all the Koreans and the reunification movement organizations at home and abroad to wage a more dynamic nationwide movement for national reunification under the banner of the joint declaration, drawing on the valuable experience gained in the efforts to achieve great national unity for national reunification.

Stronger officer-man and army-people unity and military-political unity called for

    Pyongyang, August 3 (KCNA) - We can say with pride that the historic task of achieving the unity between officers and men, the army and the people and between military and political workers has been most successfully accomplished in the DPRK under the leadership of Kim Jong Il, brilliant commander born of Mt. Paektu. Rodong Sinmun says this in a signed article Saturday. It goes on:
    The successful fulfillment of this task is the greatest victory won in the process of strengthening the revolutionary armed forces and this serves as a source of the invincible strength of the Korean people's army.
    It is the true picture of the army and society that all persons, be they officers and men, the army and the people and military personnel and political workers, breathe and act as one in implementing Kim Jong Il's policy of giving priority to the army.
    Their single-hearted comradely unity around Kim Jong Il serves as the most powerful weapon in the hands of our revolutionary armed forces because no nuclear weapon can ever break the unity. It also serves as a powerful weapon in devotedly safeguarding the headquarters of our revolution, a treasured sword with which the DPRK can emerge victorious in any fierce confrontation with imperialists and life-giving water that enables the KPA to play the role of the vanguard in the era when priority is given to the army.
    The accomplishment of the above-said task is the extraordinary exploit performed by Kim Jong Il while providing his army-centered revolutionary leadership and a precious gain of the Korean revolution.

U.S., south Korea to blame for naval clash

    Pyongyang, August 3 (KCNA) - If the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean hawks continue ignoring our legitimate self-defensive measures and insisting on the illegal northern limit line (NLL), our revolutionary armed forces will answer them with retaliatory punishment without warning, says Rodong Sinmun Saturday. In a commentary the daily accuses the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean hawks of escalating anti-DPRK propaganda, alleging that the naval clash in the West Sea in June occurred when the north's navy vessels crossed the nll and initiated gunfire.
    The NLL, drawn by the U.S. Forces unilaterally in the inviolable territorial waters of the DPRK without any agreement with it, a party to the Korean Armistice Agreement, is an illegal line contrary to the elementary requirements of international law, the daily says, and goes on:
    The U.S. and south Korean hawks, however, have illegally infiltrated warships and fishing boats into the DPRK's territorial waters, insisting on the NLL. It is a deliberately planned military provocation aimed to start a war of aggression against the DPRK.
    They should ponder over the dangerous consequences to be entailed by their reckless anti-DPRK moves and remove the NLL immediately and unconditionally.

U.S. bellicose forces' jargons blasted

    Pyongyang, August 3 (KCNA) - Some time ago U.S. President Bush ordered the U.S. Forces to get ready for preemptive attacks, clamouring about the "threat" from a number of countries including the DPRK. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld supported Bush's order, claiming that the latter's remarks about an "axis of evil" were not a gaffe but were necessary for the history.
    Papers here Saturday in signed commentaries dismiss as sheer sophism the U.S. assertion that some countries developing or possessing weapons of mass destruction are "threats" to it and they are an "axis of evil."
    The U.S. says the DPRK is threatening the U.S. but the reality is quite contrary, notes Rodong Sinmun.
    It goes on:
    It merits a very serious attention that the U.S. Secretary of Defense described Bush's remarks about an "axis of evil" as useful and good, timed to coincide with Bush's order. This clearly indicates that the U.S. is keen to make a preemptive attack on the DPRK after singling it out as a target of "anti-terrorism war."
    The jargons of the hawkish elements of the Bush administration only heighten the vigilance and anti-Americanism of the army and people of the DPRK and strengthen their anti-U.S. posture.
    The U.S. had better care more about its mainland instead of watching for a chance to invade other country.
    Minju Joson says that the DPRK remains unscared and undeterred by whatever reckless remarks, military threat and blackmail of the U.S.

Transfer of U.S. Forces' jurisdiction called for

Pyongyang, August 3 (KCNA) - The all-people measure committee for Sin Hyo Sun and Sim Mi Son, schoolgirls killed by U.S. armored car denounced the U.S. Forces for announcing that they could not transfer the criminal jurisdiction to the south Korean side and demanded an immediate transfer of the jurisdiction, according to a news report. The committee in a statement on July 28 said that all the people could not repress bitter resentment at the brazen-faced and arrogant attitude of the U.S. Forces command in south Korea ton duty.
The statement urged the U.S. Forces presecihdraw their stand of refusing to transfer the jurisdiction and President Bush to make an open apology to the bereaved families and the south Korean people.