Congress of heroes in era of army-based policy to be held

     Pyongyang, March 10 (KCNA) -- A congress of heroes in the era of the army-based policy will be held with a large attendance in Pyongyang early in September on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the DPRK. The congress will review the proud achievements made by the army and the people of the DPRK in victoriously advancing the revolution and construction under the leadership of the great party by fully displaying total dedication and mass heroism despite the U.S. imperialists' vicious challenges.
    It will discuss tasks to be fulfilled to bring about a fresh turn in building a powerful socialist nation in the spirit of the heroic struggle in the era of the army-based policy.
    The congress will mark a significant occasion in praising the immortal exploits the Workers' Party of Korea has performed by producing a large contingent of heroes and heroines, demonstrating the indomitable spirit and the great trait of single-hearted unity and army-people unity of heroic Korea which is devotedly defending socialism despite grave difficulties and hardships and providing a landmark in intensifying the all-people heroic struggle for the accomplishment of the Juche revolutionary cause.

KCNA refutes U.S. absurd call for "multilateral talks"

     Pyongyang, March 10 (KCNA) -- U.S. senator Kennedy in his NBC appearance said "He thinks the administration should hold direct talks with the North Korean leadership," adding that this is what allies in the region including South Korea and Japan want, according to South Korean MBC. This is an objective assessment of the call of the international community and world public for the DPRK-U.S. direct talks to solve the nuclear issue. It is, at the same time, a principled advice given to the administration to seriously handle the matter.
    It is not the first time that U.S. senators asserted U.S.-DPRK direct talks.
    A senator, referring to the issue of concluding a non-aggression treaty at the direct talks between the DPRK and the U.S. during the hearing of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on February 4, asked deputy Secretary of State Armitage why the U.S. is not ready to conclude a non-aggression treaty while it is saying it does not have a plan to attack North Korea.
    Many countries are calling for the peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula through direct talks and even American politicians share the same view.
    However, officials of the bush administration are insisting on "multilateral talks," asserting that the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula is not an issue concerned with the DPRK and the U.S. only but an issue which affects whole Northeast Asia and the rest of the world.
    The nuclear issue, a product of the U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK, is an issue to be solved between the DPRK and the U.S. in view of its origin and circumstances of its outbreak.
    The only way of solving it is to conclude a non-aggression treaty with legal binding force through bilateral direct talks.
    The issue surfaced because the U.S. posed a threat to the DPRK with nuclear weapons in a bid to invade it and a touch-and-go situation is prevailing on the peninsula because Washington has escalated the nuclear threat to the DPRK in recent years, talking about "preemptive nuclear attack."
    Therefore, the DPRK's proposal to conclude a non-aggression treaty which legally guarantees it non-aggression is the most fair and aboveboard solution to the issue.
    The Bush administration calls for "multilateral talks" though it talks about "dialogue" with the DPRK and escalates the military tension on the Korean Peninsula, talking about "military options". These can not be construed otherwise than a revelation of its intention to evade its direct responsibility for the nuclear issue and unleash a nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula at any cost.
    This hypocritical and belligerent stand of the U.S. only makes the solution of the issue more complicated and renders the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the rest of Northeast Asia tenser.
    If the U.S. is truly willing to settle the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula it should withdraw its call for "multilateral talks" going against the trend of the times and immediately opt for direct talks with the DPRK.

U.S. joint military exercise under fire

     Pyongyang, March 10 (KCNA) -- The United States is conducting a joint military exercise codenamed Foal Eagle with the South Korean war mongers and planning to launch in addition "reception, staging, onward movement and integration exercise" from March 19. The U.S. is describing the war exercises as annual in a bid to camouflage them with "defensive one" to prevent "threat" from the north and "ensure peace on the Korean Peninsula," Rodong Sinmun today says in a signed commentary, and goes on:
    The current U.S. Foal Eagle joint military exercise is not a mere military drill.
    The U.S. imperialists are watching for a chance to make a forestalling nuclear attack while keeping high-altitude reconnaissance planes flying in the sky above the area of the military demarcation line and the East Sea of Korea almost every day to detect our military secret and forward-deployed many long-range bombers on Guam.
    Their plan for a forestalling nuclear attack on the north is in the stage of practice beyond the stage of argument. What remains is when and how to ignite a nuclear war.
    Under this situation we can not sit idle.
    Strength is not a monopoly of the U.S. We have military strength enough to fight against the U.S.
    The United States should stop such a reckless military racket.

First revolutionary organization of peasants in Korea

     Pyongyang, March 10 (KCNA) --March 10 is the 75th anniversary of the Union of Peasants, an anti-Japanese revolutionary organization of peasants formed by President Kim Il Sung. From the days when he started revolutionary activities, he directed great efforts to awakening, organizing and revolutionizing the peasants who account for more than a half of the country's population, regarding them as a pivotal force of the revolution along with the working class.
    He gave a new exposition of the peasants' position and role in the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution. On this basis, he advanced a unique idea and policy of building a revolutionary organization of peasants and formed the union, a mass organization of a new type, in March Juche 17 (1928).
    It was the first revolutionary organization of peasants seeking the liberation of the country and the social and class emancipation of peasants.
    Kim Il Sung guided the publication of the magazine Nongu in the efforts for paving the way of the independent development of the peasants' movement.
    Under his energetic leadership, revolutionary organizations of peasants were expanded throughout the country, the driving force of the revolution strengthened and the mass foundations of the anti-Japanese armed struggle consolidated.
    The union was developed into the Union of Agricultural Workers of Korea, which has successfully performed its mission and duty in implementing the agricultural policies of the Workers' Party of Korea.

Anecdote about Kim Jong Il

     Pyongyang, March 10 (KCNA) -- Kim Jong Il summoned a commanding officer of an army unit in a summer day in Juche 65 (1976) to learn about how a rest center of servicemen was being operated. The officer told him that all the holidaymakers were sent back to their units because a touch-and-go situation was created in the country due to the Panmunjom incident caused by the U.S. imperialists.
    Kim Jong Il said that even though a war broke out, merry sounds of singing should come out from the rest center.

New varieties of oil-bearing crops cultivated

     Pyongyang, March 10 (KCNA) -- Korean agro-scientists have produced new varieties of oil-bearing crops. The newly cultivated rape, sunflower and others are strong in enduring cold, short in growth, rich in oil bearing and high in yielding.
    The new rape is sown in autumn and harvested in June next year, and is being widely cultivated as the first of double cropping.
    It bears 45-46 percent oil. It is a good green manure crop and honey is produced from its flower.
    It is especially suitable to the northern area of the country as it is possible to be cultivated in a short time.
    The new sunflower is also stronger than the other sunflowers in resistance to harmful insects and in overcoming draught and stable in yielding as it grows well not only in low temperature but in high temperature.
    It yields two tons per hectare.
    The new perilla and bean are bigger than the formers and high in yielding and can be widely planted in those areas with unfavorable natural and climatic conditions.

Truth of much ado about "remittance to north" clarified

     Pyongyang, March 10 (KCNA) -- The Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee (KAPPC), a direct party cooperating with the Hyundai Group of South Korea, issued a detailed report on March 9 to denounce the anti-DPRK hostile forces in South Korea for defiling the cooperation that has been underway between non-governmental organizations in the north and the south over what they call "case of remittance to the north" and unreasonably trying to link even the historic June 15 North-South Summit Meeting to it. It says:
    The ultra-right conservatives in South Korea, though not well informed of the economic cooperation between KAPPC and Hyundai, floated the wild rumor that "the north requested 1 billion U.S. dollar-fund" and "there was a secret agreement or a memorandum related to the summit talks," etc. in a bid to make their absurd assertion sound plausible.
    Dismissing this as a sheer fabrication, the report continued:
    Firstly, the Hyundai's cooperation representing the peculiarities of the north-south relations deserves the nation's appreciation and the issue of "remittance to the north" can never be subject to legal action.
    As already pointed out in the agreement between the KAPPC and Hyundai and recognized by the public at home and abroad, the north-south relations are an internal issue of the nation and, at the same time, an issue that assumes double nature as the north and the south live separated. The Koreans, though a homogeneous nation, are in the relationship of peculiar nature as there still exists the foreign forces-imposed atmosphere of confrontation.
    The north side allowed Hyundai to use Mt. Kumgang, the famous mountain of Korea, and the Kaesong Industrial Zone, a scenic spot with many historical relics, and granted to it business right in railways, power, telecommunications and other key industrial fields, something unimaginable, judged by common sense.
    The Hyundai side provided a huge amount of food aid to the northerners who suffered natural disasters out of humanitarianism and compatriotism and donated over 1,000 head of cattle to be used for agriculture and stockbreeding.
    It is quite natural for the two parties to have a financial transaction as the cooperation between them assumes the form of economic deal based on ensuring profitability and financial guarantee. Both sides, therefore, can have any option of financial transaction including prepayment or security, etc. if necessary.
    As a direct dealer with the Hyundai side we are of the view that the whole nation should highly appreciate the cooperation rendered by the Hyundai for national reconciliation and unity and its praiseworthy deed should in no way be incriminated to meet the partisan interests and strategy of anti-reunification forces.
    Secondly, the grand national party and other ultra-right conservatives in South Korea should immediately stop its confrontation racket to use the inter-Korean issue for attaining its political and strategic goals and apologize to the nation for it.
    As far as the fiction of "remittance to the north" is concerned, the GNP is not in a position to say anything about it.
    Frankly Speaking, since long before the emergence of the "civilian government" the GNP suggested high-level contacts to the north through various channels. It even said that if the north side accepted its request, it would offer us not only tens of billions of dollars but everything we wanted without any limit to items and size of aid.
    With the presidential election at hand last year, the GNP sent a secret envoy to the north. He said: The GNP will other the north more positive and bigger aid than what the present "government" does if Ri Hoe Chang takes office. He added the GNP's attack on the north policy of the present "government" and "ruling party" is aimed to take power. He informed the north of the GNP's on-going revision of its north policy from absolute reciprocity to flexible reciprocity.
    It is difficult at the moment for the north to disclose the secret of the GNP's dispatch of the secret envoy taking the peculiar nature of the north-south relations into due consideration.
    The racket over the "remittance to the north" kicked up by the GNP and other ultra-right conservatives in South Korea is neither for the sake of the nation nor to meet the "state interests."
    As South Korean media commented, it is nothing but an expression of the GNP's anger at its defeat in the "presidential election" held toward the end of last year and a desperate effort to prevent the party from being totally divided and revamp it till the general election slated for 2004.
    Thirdly, as a back-stage wirepuller of the farce of "remittance to the north" the U.S. should admit its despicable crime and stop inciting north-south confrontation at once.
    Displeased with the process of reconciliation and peace on the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. has worked hard overtly and covertly to prevent the KAPPC and Hyundai from starting the tour of Mt. Kumgang since its very beginning.
    The U.S. moves to hamstring the tour of Mt. Kumgang reached a more serious phase after the emergence of the Bush administration.
    In November 2000 the U.S. instructed the U.S. Forces commander and other brasshats in South Korea to force the Hyundai Group to stop the tour of Mt. Kumgang under the pretext that "there is apprehension as to the diversion of Hyundai's fund into a military purpose by the north." This was reported by the Japanese Sankei Shimbun on February 2, 2001.
    The Hyundai had been recognized as the greatest conglomerate in South Korea till the end of 1999. But it broke up into several companies due to financial difficulties and is now compelled to take its hands off the business for the tour of Mt. Kumgang. All this is attributable to the U.S. which put financial pressure on Hyundai through the banking institutions under its control.
    The "case of remittance to the north", an issue of public focus in South Korea, is a product of this base operation of the U.S.
    The report called on the South Korean authorities, political parties and organizations and Koreans at home and abroad to clearly see through the nature and truth of the ruckus over "remittance to the north" kicked up by the U.S. imperialists and ultra-right conservatives in South Korea and resolutely frustrate it to boost the inter-Korean relations and non-governmental cooperation to meet the interests of the nation.

S. Korean military hit for slandering north

     Pyongyang, March 10 (KCNA) -- The South Korean military issued a "statement on the north" in a bid to kick up a row instead of expressing support and sympathy with the DPRK which exercised its self-defensive right by letting fighters of its people's army force a reconnaissance plane of the U.S. imperialist aggression forces to fly away. Commenting on this, Rodong Sinmun today in a signed commentary terms it an act against the nation and peace. According to a news report, the South Korean ministry of defence in a "statement on the north" issued on March 7 slandered the north and went the length of admonishing it over the incident of the U.S. reconnaissance plane which occurred on March 2, asserting that "such incident may have a serious impact on the security situation" on the Korean Peninsula and "it is a reckless military action."
    The commentary goes on:
    The South Korean military authorities put the fellow countrymen in the north on edge at a time when the very dangerous foal eagle joint military exercise aimed to inflict disasters of a nuclear war on the nation is now under way in South Korea, the Rsoi drill is to be staged there under the simulated conditions for a war against the north, a U.S. aircraft carrier Carl Vinson is deployed in the waters off South Korea and 24 B1 and B52 bombers and more than 2,000-strong U.S. Forces have been amassed on Guam Island all of a sudden for the purpose of mounting a preemptive attack on the DPRK. This is intolerable.
    The reckless behaviour on the part of the South Korean authorities will only result in bringing the inter-Korean relations back to those in the period of confrontation.
    If they are truly concerned about the danger of war created on the Korean Peninsula, they should not slander the fellow countrymen in the north while siding with foreign forces but stop the joint war exercises with the U.S. aimed to invade the north, respect the spirit of the June 15 Joint Declaration and opt for protecting the interests of the nation. They should know that days of those who dare provoke the north are numbered.

For Spanish-speaking people

se efectuara congreso de heroes de la epoca de priorizacion militar

     pyongyang, 10 de marzo (atcc) -- se efectuara con solemnidad a principios de septiembre en pyongyang el congreso de los heroes de la epoca de priorizacion militar con motivo del 55 aniversario de la fundacion de la republica popular democratica de corea. el congreso hara balance del exito orgulloso que bajo la direccion del gran partido nuestro ejercito y pueblo lograron en la empresa para promover victoriosamente la revolucion y la construccion aun en el perverso desafio de los imperialistas norteamericanos al desplegar plenamente la abnegacion simpar y el heroismo masivo y discutira las tareas para registrar nuevo viraje en la construccion de potencia prospera socialista, con el espiritu de la lucha heroica de la epoca de priorizacion militar.
    este congreso sera un motivo historico para elogiar las inmortales hazanas de nuestro partido de que salieron numerosos heroes, manifestar el indoblegable espiritu, la unidad monolitica y el gran aspecto de la unidad entre el ejercito y el pueblo de corea heroica que defiende a ultranza el socialismo superando las severas pruebas y dificultades y para preparar un nuevo jalon en desplegar mas energicamente la lucha heroica de todo el pueblo por la culminacion de la causa revolucionaria del juche.

corea conmemora dia internacional de mujeres 8 de marzo

     pyongyang, 10 de marzo (atcc) -- tuvo lugar el dia 8 en esta capital el acto central de informe por el 93 aniversario del dia internacional de mujeres 8 de marzo. al acto asistieron yang hyong sop, vicepresidente del presidium de la asamblea popular suprema de la republica popular democratica de corea, kim jung rin, secretario del comite central del partido del trabajo de corea y otros funcionarios asi como mujeres de distintos sectores y capas. estuvieron invitadas las mujeres de los miembros de las embajadas de varios paises en corea y otras extranjeras.
    el informe de la ocasion estuvo a cargo de pak sun hui, presidenta del comite central de la union de las mujeres democraticas de corea, quien senalo en particular:
    el movimiento por la emancipacion de mujeres de corea fue allanado brillantemente y avanzado victoriosamente por los 3 generales del monte paektu.
    el presidente kim il sung, presento la original idea y teoria sobre la emancipacion de mujeres y el movimiento femenino a base de la inmortal idea juche y las materializo brillantemente durante todo el periodo de las actividades revolucionarias.
    la heroina antijaponesa camarada kim jong suk fortalecio y desarrollo el movimiento de mujeres de corea como el autoctono que apoya la idea y la linea del presidente y acumulo las preciosas hazanas en la labor para el desarrollo unificado del movimiento de las mujeres de corea y el fortalecimiento de la solidaridad internacional.
    el dirigente kim jong il, al defender y hacer brillar la idea y las hazanas del movimiento femenino del presidente y al desarrollarlo a una nueva y alta etapa, abrio epoca de plena prosperidad del movimiento de las mujeres.
    todas las mujeres deben enaltecer con fidelidad y defender en lo politico e ideologico y con la vida al dirigente y materializar estrictamente su idea y linea.
    todas las mujeres, unidas monoliticamente en torno al dirigente, deben luchar con dinamismo por desarrollar aun mas el original movimiento de las mujeres de corea fortalecer la amistad y la solidaridad con las mujeres progresistas del mundo aspirantes a la independencia y construir un nuevo mundo independiente exento de toda la clase de dominio y subyugacion para la paz del mundo y felicidad de las mujeres y ninos.
    terminado el acto se ofrecio una funcion artistica del grupo central de propaganda artistica de la union de mujeres, las mujeres y los ninos.

llegan a corea alimentos de la union europea

     pyongyang, 10 de marzo (atcc) -- segun la decision de finales de 2002 de la union europea de ofrecer a corea mas de 70 mil toneladas del alimento a traves del programa mundial de alimentos, el primer barco con alimentos llego el dia 8 al puerto nampho. la cooperacion de la ue estimulara los esfuerzos del pueblo coreano por eliminar las consecuencias de la calamidad natural.