Message of Thanks to Kim Jong Il from Cambodian King

     Pyongyang, August 8 (KCNA) -- Leader Kim Jong Il received a message of thanks from Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk on August 6. The message expressed thanks to Kim Jong Il for all sorts of good faith accorded to him, his family and suite members during their four months' stay in the DPRK.
    It noted that Kim Jong Il has brought prosperity and remarkable all-round progress to the DPRK and perfectly and successfully carried forward President Kim Il Sung's immortal grandiose cause of building armed forces of an invincible superpower in the Republic.
    The Kingdom of Cambodia will always stand by you and support your noble and most patriotic activities, the policy for the independent and peaceful reunification of Korea, in particular, the message said.

Korean People's Cause of Reunification Supported

     Pyongyang, August 8 (KCNA) -- J. K. Patel, director of the Indian Institute for Foreign Policy Studies, issued a statement on August 2 on the occasion of the7th anniversary of leader Kim Jong Il's famous work "Let Us Carry Out the Great Leader Comrade Kim Il Sung's Instructions for National Reunification." The statement said that the desire of the Korean people for reunification has reached a new phase and great progress has been achieved in the reunification movement of Koreans of the north and the south of Korea and overseas.
    Noting that the work has served as a banner powerfully encouraging all Koreans in their movement for Korea's reunification, the statement stressed that after the work was made public the north-south summit was arranged and the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration was published to open the door of independent reunification.
    Helmut Heidweger, chief of the Group for the Study of the Juche Idea of Kim Il Sung-Kim Jong Il in Vienna, in his statement on July 30 said that today the Korean people's cause of reunification has achieved great progress since the publication of the joint declaration.
    The independent and peaceful reunification of Korea is a matter of time as long as there are the three charters for national reunification and the joint declaration, the statement stressed.
    The statement expressed full solidarity with the Korean people in their struggle to bring earlier the country's reunification under the leadership of Kim Jong Il.

Japan Urged to Redeem Its Past Crimes against Korea

     Pyongyang, August 8 (KCNA) -- A statement was released to the press by Om Prakash Mantri, secretary general of the All India Indo-Korean Friendship Association who is secretary general of the Asian Regional Committee to Support Korea's Reunification, on August 3 on the occasion of the 59th anniversary of the liberation of Korea. He in the statement noted that the issue of Japan's liquidation of the crimes committed against Korea in the past surfaces as a most important issue in improving the DPRK-Japan relations.
    Recalling that Japan did unimaginable human and material damage to the Korean people after occupying Korea by force of arms, he noted that it brutally killed innocent Koreans and forcibly drove more than 8.4 million Koreans including 200,000 women as "comfort women" for the imperial Japanese army to its war of aggression.
    Give this hard fact, it is quite natural for the Korean people to regard Japan as their sworn enemy and it is quite unthinkable that the relations between the two countries will be normalized without any liquidation of the past, he said, and continued:
    This proves that Japan's liquidation of the past is not a mere humanitarian issue which may be done or not but a serious political and international one and a historic task pending settlement.
    Japan should honestly reflect on and apologize for its monstrous crimes committed against the Korean people in the past, adequately compensate for them, give up its anachronistic delusion and drop its hostile policy toward the DPRK.

Japanese Government's Discrimination against Koreans in Japan@Denounced

     Pyongyang, August 8 (KCNA) -- A delegate of the Japan Workers' Human Rights Committee, a non-governmental organization, addressing the 56th meeting of the UN subcommittee on protection and promotion of human rights held in Geneva on August 2 asked the subcommittee to recommend the Japanese government to immediately stop the discrimination against the Koreans in Japan and enact a law to protect and promote their human rights. Calling the subcommittee's attention to the human rights situation of the Koreans in Japan, descendants of victims of Japan's colonial rule over Korea, he said: Although the graduates of the Korean higher schools, who had been denied the right to take examination for entering Japanese universities owing to the Japanese government's refusal to "recognize" it in the past, are now permitted to do so, they still have to go through various formalities.
    Disclosing that the number of the cases of violence against Korean students is on increase in Japan since the adoption of the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration, he asserted that violence and attack against innocent children are quite unjustifiable whether the political tension between Japan and the DPRK increases or not.
    Though this issue was presented to the UN human rights organizations more than once, the Japanese government has not yet taken any effective measure to prevent it, he noted.
    He also accused the Tokyo Metropolitan Office of scheming to seize the site of the Korean school which has existed since 1946 and asked the special rapporteur on the right of non-citizens to probe the human rights situation of the Koreans in Japan and handle the issue.

Message of Sympathy to Prime Minister of Bangladesh

     Pyongyang, August 8 (KCNA) -- Premier of the DPRK Cabinet Pak Pong Ju sent a message of sympathy to Prime Minister of Bangladesh Khaleda Zia in connection with the recent torrential rain that caused huge casualties and economic loss in the country. The message wished the prime minister and the government of Bangladesh success in their work to eradicate the aftereffect of the natural disaster and bring the people's living in the afflicted area to normal at the earliest.

S. Korean Authorities' Troop Dispatch to Iraq under Fire

     Pyongyang, August 8 (KCNA) -- The south Korean authorities dispatched troops to Iraq despite the strong protest and denunciation at home and abroad. Minju Joson Sunday in a signed commentary carried in this connection brands this as an anti-national act of completely defying the demand and will of the south Korean people. By sending troops to Iraq the south Korean authorities committed the hideous treacherous act of offering young and middle-aged people to serve the U.S. in its war of aggression in defiance of the demand of the people, the commentary notes, and goes on:
    They self-exposed that their much publicized "government for the people" is nothing but a spurious signboard by offering south Korean troops as bullet-shields for GIs in their Iraqi war of aggression, yielding to the pressure of the U.S., instead of accepting the just demand of the people.
    The dispatch of south Korean troops to Iraq is cursed and denounced by the international community as it swims against the trend of the times.
    Some countries, who had sent their troops to Iraq in support of the U.S. Iraqi war, are now withdrawing them, aware of the injustice of the war.
    It is only the south Korean authorities who are driving fellow countrymen to an abyss of death, meekly yielding to the U.S. pressure to send additional troops to Iraq.
    The dispatch of south Korean troops to Iraq would only increase the damage and calamities of the south Korean people and heighten the world rebuff and condemnation.
    If the south Korean authorities have even an iota of national conscience they should come to themselves, though belatedly, and immediately stop the additional troop dispatch to Iraq, intended to kill fellow countrymen, and pull the already-dispatched troops out of Iraq at once as demanded by the people.

Seminars on Kim Jong Il's Work Held in India

     Pyongyang, August 7 (KCNA) -- Seminars on the famous work of leader Kim Jong Il "Let Us Carry Out the Great Leader Comrade Kim Il Sung's Instructions for National Reunification" were held by the Indian Youth Group for the Study of Works of Comrade Kim Il Sung and the Juche Philosophy Study Committee of India on July 28 and August 2. Balzor Singh Chauhan, chairman of the Indian youth group, said at the seminar that it was President Kim Il Sung's life-long cause and ardent desire to achieve Korea's reunification. The President worked heart and soul to the last moments of his life to hand a reunified country down to posterity, he stressed, adding:
    This work of Kim Jong Il is an encyclopedic library for Korea's reunification which gives right answers to all the problems arising in putting an end to the tragedy of national division and bringing earlier the independent and peaceful reunification of Korea, true to the President's instructions.
    The cause of Korea's reunification is invincible as Kim Jong Il, who carries forward the President's idea and cause of Korea's reunification, is victoriously leading the Korean nation's cause of reunification with his clairvoyant wisdom and outstanding political ability.
    Wipin Cupta, chairman of the study committee, said at the seminar that Kim Jong Il comprehensively systematized and crystallized Kim Il Sung's idea and exploits of Korea's reunification and made them a firm foundation for accomplishing the cause of reunification, which is a noteworthy exploit in the history of the movement for Korea's reunification.
    The Korean people are now striving to speed up national reunification under the banner of "By the Korean nation itself" in line with the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration provided by Kim Jong Il, he stressed.

Sec. General of SNLFN Supports Koreans' Struggle for National@Reunification

     Pyongyang, August 7 (KCNA) -- Daniel Ortega Saavedra, secretary general of the Sandinist National Liberation Front of Nicaragua (SNLFN), wished the Korean people greater success in their struggle for the building of a great prosperous powerful nation and national reunification under the wise leadership of Kim Jong Il, when receiving DPRK Ambassador to Nicaragua Ri Kang Se on July 22. Referring to solidarity between the SNLFN and the Workers' Party of Korea, he said that they have always stood on the side of the WPK and the Korean people not only yesterday but today as well.

Spokesman for DPRK FM Blasts "Joint Naval Exercise" to Be Hosted by Japan

     Pyongyang, August 7 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry Saturday answered a question put by KCNA as regards the fact that the United States has instigated Japan to stage a "joint naval exercise" against the DPRK. He said:
    The Japanese government announced on August 3 that it would sponsor a "joint naval exercise" off Tokyo Bay in October according to PSI.
    It is expected that mainly PSI members will take part in the exercise and other countries will be invited to it.
    It is clear that the exercise to be staged under the pretext of "checking the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) on the sea" is a product of the Bush administration's sinister attempt to escalate its policy to isolate and blockade the DPRK.
    The U.S. has so far staged 10 "joint naval exercises" in different parts of the world after setting out PSI. It seeks to "demonstrate" the international cooperation targeted against the DPRK by staging this exercise in the waters close to it.
    Through the projected maneuver it also seeks to push forward the PSI system in real earnest and increase its maneuverability in a bid to focus it on the DPRK and escalate the policy to isolate and blockade it by drawing its neighboring countries into the exercise.
    But it is a gross miscalculation for the U.S. to think that it can frighten the DPRK with such threat and blackmail.
    The DPRK has already solemnly declared that it would regard any sanctions and blockade against the DPRK as a proclamation of a war.
    The present situation where the U.S. hostile policy towards the DPRK has reached a dangerous phase proves the justice of the measures taken by it to steadily bolster all the means for self-defence including the nuclear deterrent force.
    It has now become clear that the U.S. seeks to solve the nuclear issue between the DPRK and the U.S. by force, not through dialogue and negotiations. This compels the DPRK to take corresponding counter-measures.
    It cannot but take a serious view of the "joint naval exercise" the Japanese authorities plan to sponsor at the instigation of the U.S.
    Japan's behavior diametrically runs counter to the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration in which both sides committed themselves not to take any action against each other's security.
    There can be no state relations without mutual confidence.
    Double-faced attitude of the Japanese authorities resorting to the anti-DPRK racket, toeing the U.S. line, while talking about the implementation of the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration and the normalization of the relations between them only heighten the vigilance among servicepersons and the people of the DPRK.
    An attitude towards the exercise will precisely mean an attitude towards the DPRK as this provocative maneuver is targeted against the DPRK. The DPRK will closely watch the development of a situation.

DPRK Fully Ready to Cope with Any Form of War

     Pyongyang, August 7 (KCNA) -- The "operation plan 5027-04" much touted by the U.S. and south Korean bellicose forces is nothing but a roadmap leading those keen to start a war of aggression in Korea to graves. The DPRK is fully ready to cope with any form of war in order to defend peace and security on the Korean peninsula. A spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland declared this in a statement Friday. He said: The operation plan mapped out by the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean military is an extremely adventurous and dangerous war scenario for mounting a preemptive attack on the DPRK as it is aimed at carrying out a "blitz warfare" by use of precision guided weapons and ultra-modern military equipment.
    The present tense situation proves that nothing can be expected from the U.S. and requires the DPRK to counter the aggressors' logic of strength with the toughest countermeasure in order to protect the nation's dignity, sovereignty and right to existence. If the U.S. imperialists unleash a war on this land, misjudging the DPRK, its army and people will not miss the opportunity but wipe out all the aggressors and provokers and eliminate the root cause of war in the world with the deterrent force of justice they have built up for scores of years.
    The U.S. imperialists and the south Korean warlike forces should stop running wild, properly understanding who their rival is, he warned.

GNP Urged to Stop Treacherous Act

     Pyongyang, August 7 (KCNA) -- The Solidarity for Implementing the South-North Joint Declaration reportedly held a press conference denouncing the colour offensive, the regression of Yusin and the Grand National Party in front of the GNP building on August 3. At the press conference the organization recalled that the GNP opposed the abolition of the "Security Law", accusing the Committee for Probing the Truth behind the Suspicious Death of the results of its investigation into the struggle of unconverted long-term prisoners which contributed to the movement for democracy.
    The organization stressed that such action is the factor of causing tension and discord between the south and the north and that the GNP and conservative cold war forces should clearly know they cannot survive while swimming against the times and betraying the people.
    At the press conference Permanent Co-representative of the solidarity Yun Han Thak emphasized that the GNP should immediately stop its treacherous action of seeking to go against history and turn it back and should come out in setting right history.

Rodong Sinmun on U.S. Human Rights Offensive

     Pyongyang, August 7 (KCNA) -- As already reported, a "bill on human rights in north Korea" was passed through the U.S. House of Representatives. It was not one or two times that the United States has slandered and insulted the DPRK with the issue of human rights, but it is an extremely base and vicious "human rights" offensive that the U.S. let loose lengthy strings of hostile slanders in the "bill", says Rodong Sinmun in a signed commentary Saturday.
    The U.S. adoption of the bill is a very grave provocation aiming to isolate and stifle the DPRK in light of time, content and character, the commentary notes, and goes on:
    The Bush group is taking the human rights issue together with the nuclear issue as two pillars of its policy of isolating and stifling the DPRK in a bid to bring about change of the system in the DPRK at any cost.
    The U.S. is pulling up the DPRK over the human rights issue for the purpose of escalating the DPRK-U.S. confrontation and igniting a war.
    It is nothing but a plot to bring confusion in the DPRK and demolish the socialist system that in the bill the U.S. clamored for "service of information about the issue of abduction", "transparence of humanitarian aid" and "freedom of religious activity".
    All these facts go to prove that the U.S. has no will to drop its hostile policy toward the DPRK and co-exist with it peacefully.
    The Korean people will never pardon the U.S. for working out the "bill on human rights in north Korea" full of lies and fabrications to impair the dignity of the sovereign DPRK and meddle in its internal affairs under the pretext of human rights.
    The more the U.S. intensifies its pressure on the DPRK with all sorts of slanders, the firmer the army and the people of Korea will consolidate the might of their unbreakable unity and self-reliant defense capability and wage their anti-U.S. struggle.

U.S. Hostile Policy towards DPRK Denounced

     Pyongyang, August 7 (KCNA) -- The members of the group of participants in the International March for Korea's Peace and Reunification flailed the anachronistic U.S. hostile policy towards the DPRK, noting with towering indignation that the U.S. imperialist aggressor forces have staged ceaseless war exercises for aggression, keeping south Korea under their occupation for nearly 60 years. After visiting the Sinchon Museum, Wesley Mitchell, representative of the Irish Branch of the Association for Friendship with the Korean People, who is one of the members of the group, said that the evidence proving the massacre committed by GIs sent a shudder through visitors. It is very important to let all people of the world visit this place so that they may know what crimes GIs perpetrated against humanity, he added.
    Another member of the group Dmitry Tikhankov, representative of its Russian branch, said the world people would positively support the Korean people's cause of reunification, noting that Korean reunification is the unanimous desire not only of the Korean people but of the world progressives.
    Member of the group Bjornar Simonsen, representative of its Norwegian branch, said:
    The U.S. is putting pressure and resorting to arbitrary and high-handed practices against those countries which fall out of its favor in the world and even do not hesitate to launch a war. But the U.S. dares not provoke the DPRK because its army and people are single-heartedly united around leader Kim Jong Il who is pursuing the Songun policy.
    Demanding the U.S. withdraw its forces from south Korea at once and stop doing anything obstructive to Korean reunification, he declared that the Korean people's just cause of reunification is bound to triumph.

Art Troupe of Pyongyang Schoolchildren Leaves for Indonesia

     Pyongyang, August 7 (KCNA) -- An art troupe of Pyongyang schoolchildren left here Saturday to visit Indonesia. The art troupe was seen off at the airport by officials concerned and an official of the Indonesian embassy here.

For Spanish-speaking people

India: simposio sobre obra de Kim Jong Il

     Pyongyang, 7 de agosto (ATCC) -- El simposio sobre la obra clasica del Dirigente Kim Jong Il "Materialicemos de modo consecuente el legado del gran Lider camarada Kim Il Sung para la reunificacion de la Patria" tuvo lugar el 28 de julio y el 2 del mes en curso en el Grupo Indio de los Jovenes para el estudio de las obras del camarada Kim Il Sung y el Comite Indio de Estudio de la Filosofia Juche. Balzor Singh Chauhan, presidente de la primera entidad, al hacer uso de la palabra, dijo que la reunificacion de Corea fue la causa de toda la vida y anhelo ardiente del Presidente Kim Il Sung y apunto que el se dedico por entero hasta el ultimo momento de su vida para legar a los descendientes una patria reunificada.
    Senalo que la citada obra de Su Excelencia Kim Jong Il constituye una magna carta enciclopedica para la reunificacion de Corea, que dio correctas respuestas a todos los problemas que se presentan para acabar con la tragedia de la division de la nacion y adelantar la reunificacion independiente y pacifica de Corea y destaco que esa causa es invencible porque Su Excelencia Kim Jong Il hereda la idea y la causa del Presidente en materia de reunificacion de la patria y conduce a la victoria esta empresa con la clarividente inteligencia y extraordinaria capacidad politica.
    El presidente de la segunda entidad, Wipin Gupta, senalo que Su Excelencia Kim Jong Il sistematizo globalmente la idea y las hazanas del Presidente en materia de la reunificacion de la patria y las convirtio en un firme cimiento para realizarla, lo cual es una proeza digna de destacar en la historia del movimiento por la reunificacion de Corea.
    Subrayo que hoy en dia el pueblo coreano libra una lucha energica para adelantar la reunificacion de la patria segun la Declaracion Conjunta Norte-Sur del 15 de Junio publicada por Su Excelencia Kim Jong Il y con la bandera de "Con las fuerzas unidas de la nacion coreana" en alto.

Vocero de CRPP declara

     Pyongyang, 7 de agosto (ATCC) -- El vocero del Comite por la Reunificacion Pacifica de la Patria publico el dia 6 una declaracion que senala: El "plan operacional 5027-04" trazado por los belicistas norteamericanos y surcoreanos no pasa de ser una ruta hacia la tumba de quienes tratan de desatar la guerra agresiva en esta tierra. Estamos listos en todo para hacer frente a cualquier modo de guerra por preservar la paz y la seguridad de la Peninsula Coreana.
    El plan arriba mencionado, que preve una "guerra relampago" con armas teledirigidas de precision y equipamientos militares sofisticados, deviene un libreto de guerra aventurero y peligroso que entrana el intento de asestar el primer ataque a la Republica Popular Democratica de Corea.
    En la situacion tan delicada de hoy, no podemos cifrar la esperanza alguna en EE.UU. sino debemos responder con la sobredureza a la teoria de fueraza de los agresores para defender la dignidad, soberania y el derecho a la existencia de la nacion.
    Si EE.UU. se equivoca en apreciarnos y desata por fin la guerra en esta tierra, el ejercito y el pueblo de Corea no perderan esta oportunidad para valerse de la justa fuerza de detencion preparada en decenas de anos y asi aniquilar a todos los agresores y provocadores y eliminar de una vez para siempre la fuente de la guerra en esta tierra.
    Las fuerzas belicosas norteamericanas y surcoreanas deben distinguir justamente a su contraparte y actuar con prudencia.

Daniel Ortega apoya lucha de pueblo coreano

     Pyongyang, 7 de agosto (ATCC) -- El secretario general del Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional de Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega Saavedra, al reunirse el 22 de julio con Ri Kang Se, embajador extraordinario y plenipotenciario de la Republica Popular Democratica de Corea en su pais, deseo que el pueblo coreano, bajo la sabia direccion del Dirigente Kim Jong Il, logre mayores exitos en la lucha por la construccion de una gran potencia prospera y la reunificacion del pais. Se refirio a la solidaridad entre el Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional de Nicaragua y el Partido del Trabajo de Corea y anadio que ellos mismos estuvieron y estan siempre al lado del PTC y del pueblo coreano.