Friendly meeting held at Cuban embassy

     Pyongyang, January 29 (KCNA) -- A friendly meeting was held at the Cuban embassy in Pyongyang on Jan. 28 on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Jose Marti, a national hero of the Cuban people. Present there on invitation were Jon Yong Jin, vice-chairman of the Korea-Cuba Solidarity Committee who is vice-chairman of the Korean Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, officials concerned and teachers and students of Korea-Cuba Friendship Moranbong Middle School No. 1.
    Also present were Ambassador Esteban Lobaina Romero and members of the Cuban embassy.
    The participants enjoyed a performance given by members of the art group of the school. They talked each other about the life and activity of Jose Marti who devoted his all to the freedom and liberation of the Cuban people and the need to boost the relations between the two countries.

Kim Jong Il's work published in Syria

     Pyongyang, January 29 (KCNA) -General Secretary Kim Jong Il's famous work "On Having a Correct Viewpoint and Understanding of the Juche Philosophy" was brought out in booklet by the Dar Damascus Publishing House, Syria, on Jan. 20. The work was published on October 25, Juche 79 (1990). It clarifies the originality of the Juche philosophy, intrinsic character of man, co-relations among nature-transforming, social reform and remoulding of man and other important issues expounded by the Juche philosophy.

National art festival of agricultural workers

     Pyongyang, January 29 (KCNA) -- The 31st National Art Festival of Agricultural Workers was held in Pyongyang to celebrate the birthday of leader Kim Jong Il (February 16.) Participating in the festival were art circle members of rural villages.
    They put on the stage narration and chorus "General is the Son of Guerrillas," chorus "Bouquets of Wish to You" and poem and chorus "Sunrise on Mt. Paektu," which praise the immortal exploits of Kim Jong Il.
    Group singing tale "Double Cropping is Good," tale in song "Scenic Waterway of My Home Village" and other numbers represented the revolutionary and optimistic struggle of agricultural workers to effect new innovations in agricultural production this year.
    Also put on the festival stage were art pieces dealing with the bid of the Korean people to uphold the army-based leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea with loyalty and class education.

KCNA blasts U.S. "tailored containment" strategy

     Pyongyang, January 29 (KCNA) -- The Korean Peninsula is now exposed to a grave threat posed by the U.S. all-out offensive to pressurize the DPRK. It is attributable to the U.S. extremely hostile policy toward the DPRK to isolate and stifle the independent sovereign state, and the "tailored containment" strategy, its product, in particular.
    This is a very dangerous strategy as it blatantly challenges the unbiased public opinion calling for a fair solution to the nuclear issue through dialogue and negotiations. This should never be allowed as it is aimed to wreck peace and security in Asia including the Korean Peninsula and the rest of the world, the most hideous crime.
    The U.S. "tailored containment" strategy toward the DPRK is, in a word, designed to isolate and stifle the DPRK by putting it under the siege of closely coordinated international sanctions and pressure in political, economic, military, diplomatic and all other aspects.
    This strategy is also dubbed a "serpent" strategy as it is to be carried out in the way a serpent does, ie swallowing up the object after strangling it.
    Referring to it, the South Korean KBS reported on December 29 last year that the U.S. seems to have what it calls a "tailored containment" strategy in the making to escalate its economic and political pressure on North Korea. The U.S. came out with the operation to destroy North Korea in retaliation against its brinkmanship tactics. It is the core of the "tailored containment" strategy to escalate the economic and political pressure to the extremes and push North Korea to collapse.
    As reported, the U.S. strategy is aimed to destabilize the system in the DPRK and destroy it, while refusing to recognize its political system.
    It is a conclusion made by the bush administration that there is no need to keep the DPRK-U.S. Agreed Framework unless the former collapses and therefore, it should be scrapped and it is necessary to work out the second scenario for the collapse of North Korea.
    The Bush administration has worked to scrap the AF since it took office. It began spreading the rumour of "north's collapse", a fiction recorded in history, and escalated its hostile policy toward the DPRK after declaring it as a principal enemy. In the "state of union message" delivered at congress on January 30 last year Bush openly listed the DPRK as part of "an axis of evil".
    Later the U.S. declared the DPRK as a target of its preemptive nuclear attack.
    International community was unanimous in rebuffing the U.S. talk about an "axis of evil" as each nation wanted its vital rights and interests to be protected and sought its own strategic aim.
    This could not but be a telling blow to the U.S. who was working hard to galvanize the world pubic opinion under the pretext of the "axis of evil" and, on this basis, isolate the DPRK and drive it to collapse.
    The U.S. felt an urgent need to fake up a shocking story to launch an international offensive to isolate and pressurize the DPRK.
    It took painstaking efforts to dream up the ridiculous story about the DPRK's "nuclear development" to capture the world attention. It sent Kelly to Pyongyang in the capacity of the president's special envoy last October in a foolish bid to make it a fait accompli. But he only got a serious warning from the DPRK.
    The U.S. should have seriously taken our warning and admitted its hostile policy toward the DPRK as an anachronistic one but it went the length of hatching such a political plot as the DPRK's "admission of its nuclear weapons program."
    It was against this backdrop that the U.S. drafted the "tailored containment strategy" toward the DPRK and has put it into practice.
    While talking about international cooperation in implementing it the U.S. has taken a series of actions to step up the strategy. It prevented DPRK's neighbors and EU countries from making any deal with the DPRK and hamstrung inter-Korean exchange and cooperation. It stopped supplying heavy oil to the DPRK, its commitment under the AF, from December last year and committed piracy against the DPRK trading cargo ship Sosan in broad daylight as part of its sea blockade and attempted to check the service of liner Mangyongbong.
    In order to internationalize the offensive to pressurize the DPRK, the U.S. instigated the international atomic energy agency, its cat's paw, to adopt an ultimatum-like "resolution" and worked hard to bring the DPRK's "nuclear issue" to the UN in a bid to put economic sanctions on it.
    The U.S. is now desperately clinging to its strategy but there is no guarantee that it will prove successful.
    It is the unshakable will of the DPRK to react to the hard-line with the toughest stand and strongly retaliate against the enemies.
    As the U.S. scrapped the AF, the DPRK adopted a decision to lift nuclear freeze on December 12 last year and on January 10 this year it released the government's statement to withdraw from the NPT.
    The DPRK's withdrawal from the NPT dealt a heavy blow at the U.S. "tailored containment" strategy as it was a legitimate measure taken to cope with the U.S. moves to stifle the DPRK and the IAEA's partial behavior.
    The U.S. strategy going against humankind's aspiration and desire to establish an international order for peace, progress, reconciliation and cooperation is now under fire by international community for its reactionary and dangerous nature.
    The "tailored containment" strategy is bound to go bankrupt because of the strong trend of the times opposing the U.S. and war.

Correction of wrongly used country's name and false report urged

     Pyongyang, January 29 (KCNA) -- Some Japanese newspapers and televisions released biased reports, calling the DPRK Kitachousen (North Korea). In this regard, international department director Han Jong Chi and other representatives of the Central Standing Committee of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) visited the offices of the Japan Publishers and Editors' Association and the National Association of Commercial Broadcasting in Japan to urge them to correct those mistakes on Jan. 24, according to KNS in Tokyo.
    A written request in the name of the Chongryon Central Standing Committee read out by the representatives said that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is the dignified name of the sovereign state publicly recognized by the world.
    It noted that the wrong use of the country's name and false report are evoking intolerable resentment among the Koreans in Japan and go against the historic DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration as they are intended to impair the image of the DPRK and incite hostility toward Koreans among Japanese.

DPRK Foreign Ministry spokesman on Powell's remarks

     Pyongyang, January 29 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Tuesday as regards the shameless remarks made by U.S. Secretary of State Powell at the world economic forum to evade the blame for the present nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula. The statement said:
    In a word, Powell's remarks meant that the United States has done what it should do as an "apostle of peace" while expressing its will for nonaggression and negotiated settlement of the issue but the present situation has not yet been settled because the DPRK refuses to move.
    Since he told such a lie to mislead public opinion, the DPRK cannot but dissect his remarks whether they are true.
    In his speech at the forum, Powell said Pyongyang "admitted" the "bald facts" turned up by the U.S. over the uranium enrichment program.
    As for this matter, Kelly, assistant secretary of U.S. State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, took an arrogant attitude during his visit to Pyongyang, groundlessly urging the DPRK to admit the U.S. assertion for the "program". So, we took the attitude of neither denying it nor confirming it.
    The "information" repeatedly turned up by the U.S. is an invention which does not deserve even a passing note. We had experienced such practice through the case of "secret underground nuclear facilities discovered" in Kumchang-ri of the DPRK in 1998.
    At that time the U.S. peddled what was called "information" only to find the tunnel in Kumchang-ri empty. So, the U.S. had to grant 600,000 tons of food to the DPRK in compensation for such groundless mockery of it. This is a serious lesson that the U.S. should have drawn.
    Powell also stated that the U.S. has no intention of attacking the DPRK. However, his argument is quite contrary to the fact.
    Ultra-large aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk-led warships of the U.S. were recently deployed in the East Sea of Korea, and he also remarked "we keep all of our options on the table", which includes an option of military strike to stifle the DPRK by force.
    He said that the U.S. was ready last summer to pursue a bold approach with Pyongyang, which would have entailed political and economic steps. This remark is very hypocritical as the Bush administration had delayed the LWR project, which is to be completed by the year of 2003, and attempted to enforce early inspection only after site preparations were made for LWRs. The administration had also claimed that it would never compensate for the delay.
    The hypocritical nature of his remarks can be also found in the assertion that the nuclear issue is not just a matter between the U.S. and the DPRK and the U.S. is working with its allies and others in the region. In this way he attempted to create the impression that it is a matter between the DPRK and the international community.
    We cannot but mention that no other country in the world community except the U.S. has singled the DPRK out as a member of an "axis of evil" and a target of preemptive nuclear attacks.
    It is not the international community but the United States which has brought the present nuclear crisis to the Korean Peninsula in a bid to isolate and stifle the DPRK.
    That is why we have already clarified its stand that it is strongly opposed to any attempt to internationalize the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula and will never attend any form of "multilateral talks" over it.
    Powell also said, "over the past nine years, the international community engaged North Korea in good faith with the nuclear agreements which we now know Pyongyang violated." This is the statement reversing black and white.
    As soon as it came to power, the Bush administration turned down the "engagement" policy and slandered the DPRK as "disgusting". It is again the administration which listed the DPRK as part of an "axis of evil" and singled out it as a target of its preemptive nuclear attacks after adopting it as a national policy to destroy the system of the DPRK.
    It has already been well known to the world that the U.S. grossly violated the June 11, 1993 DPRK-U.S. Joint Statement, in which the U.S. assured that "it would neither use armed forces including nukes nor threaten with them." The U.S. also violated the October 21, 1994 DPRK-U.S. Agreed Framework, in which the U.S. promised to "move toward the full normalization of political and economic relations" with the DPRK, and the October 12, 2000 DPRK-U.S. Joint Communique, in which the U.S., declaring it would have no hostile intention toward the DPRK, reaffirmed that "the bilateral relations should be based on the principles of mutual respect for sovereignty and non-interference."
    This convinced us that the bush administration is an untrustworthy rogue group, which did not hesitate to turn aside not only the bilateral agreements the preceding administration concluded, to meet its partisan interests, but also international conventions such as the ABM Treaty and the Kyoto Protocol.
    That is why we contend that it is important to conclude a non-aggression treaty between the DPRK and the U.S. as it will have binding force after going through congressional procedures.

Talks between north and south sides close

     Pyongyang, January 29 (KCNA) -- Talks between Secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea Kim Yong Sun and Rim Tong Won, special aide of Chongwadae on diplomacy, security and unification who is special envoy of President Kim Dae Jung, came to an end on Jan. 28. At the talks, the north side referred to the fact that there opened a new chapter of the history in which all the Koreans have pooled their efforts in the common idea of "By Our Nation Itself" over the last two and a half years since the historic Pyongyang meeting. It underscored the need for all Koreans to firmly maintain the stand of giving prominence to the nation, regarding the June 15 Joint Declaration provided by the top leaders of the north and the south as a milestone common to the nation and for the two parts of Korea to go united no matter how the situation may change.
    Now that the situation on the Korean Peninsula is getting tense, the north and the south should work harder than ever before to avert the danger of a war and defend peace in conformity with the will and interests of the nation, it noted, and continued:
    It is the only way of most fairly solving the "nuclear issue" on the Korean Peninsula for the DPRK and the U.S. to have direct talks on an equal footing. The DPRK-U.S. negotiations should be held and the proposal for concluding a non-aggression treaty between them should be realized as called for by the DPRK.

Rodong Sinmun on nuclear crisis of Korean Peninsula

     Pyongyang, January 29 (KCNA) -- The U.S. and the IAEA are to blame for the nuclear crisis of the Korean Peninsula, says Rodong Sinmun today in a signed commentary. The Bush administration's reckless policy to isolate and stifle the DPRK, neglecting the experience of the preceding administration, has compelled the DPRK to lift nuclear freeze and withdraw from the NPT, causing the worst crisis, the commentary says, and goes on:
    The U.S. devised a deceptive means of "dialogue" aimed to gain time for the projected Iraq attack, while setting the international community against the DPRK to make an international offensive to isolate and pressurize it.
    It does not go down with the DPRK.
    The best way of peaceful and fair settlement of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula is to open negotiations between the DPRK and the U.S. and to conclude a non-aggression treaty between them.
    The U.S. should stop such a foolish attempt to place the DPRK in the "nuclear dock" in collusion with the IAEA which has lost its impartiality and behave itself with discretion to fulfill its responsibility.
    Everything hinges on the attitude of the U.S. responsible for the present situation.

"Large Complete Collection of Korean Songs" published

     Pyongyang, January 29 (KCNA) -- The Literature and Art Publishing House brought out "Large Complete Collection of Korean Songs" recently. The collection contains nearly 8,000 songs including more than 3,600 songs, at least 4,000 opera and movie songs and juvenile songs and more than 100 folk songs, many of them guided by Kim Jong Il.
    It also carries songs created by compatriots under the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan and other overseas Koreans.
    Given in the first part of the book are some of Kim Jong Il's important sayings referring to songs.
    The book has been compiled in sections of songs, opera songs, movie songs, juvenile songs, folk songs, etc. It is arranged in Korean alphabetic order except section of opera songs. The section of opera songs includes more than 1,150 songs from five revolutionary and other operas.
    Edited in the last part of the book are photos of those poets and composers well known to the people and pictures of art theaters, famous music CDs and music books.

Anecdote about Kim Jong Il

     Pyongyang, January 29 (KCNA) -- On June 5, Juche 91 (2002) Kim Jong Il visited the Komdok Mine and met workers of a mining work team. Among them were six heroes of labor and well-known miners. Conversing with them, he happened to know that they had worked hard to increase the ore production, eating and sleeping at their working face for days. He, afraid of their health, said they should not be allowed to sleep at the face.
    That day he enjoyed with them a performance given by the traveling art instigation troupe of the mine.
    After the performance, he told officials to invite them on his behalf to visit Pyongyang and have a vacation.
    So, the miners enjoyed themselves in Pyongyang together with their families at a special invitation of the state leader.

South side's special envoy leaves

     Pyongyang, January 29 (KCNA) -- Rim Tong Won, special aide of Chongwadae on diplomacy, security and unification who is special envoy of President Kim Dae Jung, and his party who visited Pyongyang at the request of the south side left today. They were seen off at the airport by Rim Tong Ok, first vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, and other officials concerned.

Meeting of officials in field of land and environment preservation

     Pyongyang, January 29 (KCNA) -- A meeting of officials in the field of land and environment preservation was held in Pyongyang yesterday. At the meeting Premier of the Cabinet Hong Song Nam announced ranking of appreciation in the general mobilization drive for land management last year, which was followed by a report of Jang Il Son, Minister of Land and Environment Preservation, and speeches.
    It was said at the meeting that vast land of different provinces was realigned as befitting that of socialist Korea, the Kaechon-Lake Thaesong Waterway was built as a structure of eternal value and many other achievements were made in the work of land management last year.
    Under the distinguished and seasoned leadership of Kim Jong Il a huge plan for general mobilization in land management could be successfully carried out and gigantic nature-remaking creations built in the era of the army-based policy despite the shortage of everything and difficult conditions, the meeting stressed.
    Raised at the meeting were measures to turn the country into a socialist fairyland under the banner of the army-centred policy this year, which marks the 55th anniversary of the DPRK.

Withdrawal of nuclear weapons from S. Korea demanded

     Pyongyang, January 29 (KCNA) -- The U.S. should immediately withdraw nuclear weapons from South Korea, demand papers here today in signed commentaries carried 45 years after it began shipping them into it. South Korea has turned into the biggest nuclear arsenal in the Far East and a nuclear attack base as over 1,000 U.S.-made nukes are deployed there. Rodong Sinmun says that the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula surfaced because of the U.S. shipment of nukes into South Korea that started after the U.S. had a huddle with the South Korean authorities on February 12, 1957 over the issue of equipping the U.S. Forces in South Korea with nuclear weapons and declared in July of the same year that they would commence nuclear weaponization. The daily goes on: The U.S. imperialists have gone ahead with the establishment of the "joint stealth operation force" for carrying out a preemptive nuclear attack operation and the development of new-type tactical nuclear weapons to be used in the second Korean war since they singled out the DPRK as part of an "axis of evil" and target of its preemptive nuclear attack. Those facts go to prove that the U.S. is chiefly to blame for the nuclear crisis and the nuclear threat on the Korean Peninsula is not coming from the north but is posed by the U.S. Forces in South Korea. The U.S. is the biggest criminal as it seeks to bring a holocaust of a nuclear war to all the Koreans after turning South Korea, an inalienable part of Korea, into a nuclear arsenal. We should not allow our sacred land to be reduced to shambles of U.S. nuclear war and the Korean nation to fall victim to the war. Minju Joson says that it is an issue vital to the Korean nation and an urgent need of the times to force the U.S. imperialist aggressor troops armed with nuclear weapons and other latest type military hardware to pull out of South Korea and ensure peace and security on the Korean Peninsula.

For Spanish-speaking people

encuentro de amistad en embajada de cuba

     pyongyang, 29 de enero (atcc) -- el encuentro de amistad en ocasion del 150 aniversario del cumpleanos de jose marti, heroe nacional del pueblo cubano tuvo lugar el dia 28 en la embajada de la republica de cuba en la republica popular democratica de corea. al acto fueron invitados jon yong jin, vicepresidente del comite de relaciones culturales con el extranjero y del comite coreano de solidaridad con cuba y otros funcionarios, maestros y alumnos de la escuela secundaria no.1 de morambong de amistad corea-cuba.
    estuvieron presentes el embajador cubano esteban lobaina romero y otros miembros de la sede diplomatica.
    los participantes vieron una funcion de los miembros del grupo artistico de la escuela y profundizaron el sentimiento de amistad departiendo sobre la vida y las actividades de jose marti quien dedico todo lo suyo para la libertad y la liberacion del pueblo cubano y sobre el problema de desarrollar aun mas las relaciones entre los dos paises.

vocero de minrex se refiere a las palabras de powell

     pyongyang, 29 de enero (atcc) -- el vocero del ministerio de relaciones exteriores de la republica popular democratica de corea hizo publica el dia 28 una declaracion en relacion con que el secretario de estado norteamericano powell profirio una descarada mentira en el foro economico mundial con el fin de eludir su responsabilidad de la actual crisis nuclear creada en la peninsula coreana. el vocero senala en particular:
    en el presente discurso powell dijo que la rpdc no podia menos que "reconocer" el "confiable prueba" relacionado con el plan de uranio condensado de esta presentado por ee.uu.
    cuando kelly, asistente del secretario de estado norteamericano visito a la rpdc se porto con arrogancia imponiendonos reconocer su insistencia infundada. por tanto no teniamos la necesidad de reconocerla ni objetarla porque los "datos de informacion" de ee.uu. son falsificados y no hay nada de valor de discutirlo. lo conocemos muy bien a traves del incidente en 1998 del "descubrimiento de las instalaciones nucleares subterraneas en secreto" situadas en la comuna kumchang de nuestro pais.
    esta vez powell dijo tambien que ee.uu. no "tiene la voluntad de invadir" a la rpdc.
    pero, la nueva ubicacion en el mar este de la peninsula coreana de una flota de combate encabezada por el portaaviones "kittyhawk" es muy contradictoria a su palabra.
    la hipocresia de la palabra de powell se expresa en el hecho de que el intenta inducir en error la opinion publica como si el problema nuclear fuera el problema entre la rpdc y la comunidad internacional.
    el fautor de la creacion de la actual crisis nuclear en nuestro pais no es la comunidad internacional sino ee.uu.
    por eso, ya aclaramos que la rpdc se opone cabalmente a toda clase de intenciones para internacionalizar el problema nuclear de la peninsula coreana y no participara en ningunas "conversaciones multipartitas" relacionadas con este problema. powell dijo tambien que "norcorea anulo el acuerdo".
    tan pronto como tomo el poder la administracion bush volco su politica de "compromiso" y maldijo que tenia "aversion" en cuanto a la rpdc y declaro como una politica de su pais derrumbar el regimen de la rpdc definiendola como "eje del mal" y objeto de ataque nuclear anticipado.
    todo el mundo conoce bien que ee.uu. infringio flagrantemente la declaracion conjunta del 11 de junio de 1993 que "garantiza no usar las fuerzas armadas incluidas las armas nucleares ni amenazar con tales fuerzas armadas", el acuerdo basico del 21 de octubre de 1994, que estipula "ir rumbo a normalizar por completo las relaciones politicas y economicas" con la rpdc y el comunicado conjunto del 12 de octubre de 2000 que declara "no tener la voluntad hostil" a la rpdc y "reafirma que las relaciones entre ee.uu. y la rpdc deben ser basadas en el principio de respeto mutuo y la no intervencion en los asuntos internos".
    a traves de los cuales llegamos a convencernos de que la administracion bush es el grupo inconfiable de bribones que para ganar el interes sectario abandona sin titubeo los pactos internacionales como el tratado sobre misiles antibalisticos y el protocolo de kyoto para no hablar del acuerdo bilateral firmado por la anterior administracion.
    por tal motivo insistimos en concertar el tratado de no agresion restrictivo a traves de las formalidades legales del congreso.