DPRK Holidays to Be Observed in Democratic Congo

     Pyongyang, January 20 (KCNA) -- An inaugural ceremony of the national preparatory committee of Democratic Congo for commemorating the Day of the Sun and February 16 was held in Kinshasa on Jan. 14 under the sponsorship of the Democratic Congo-Korea Friendship and Solidarity Association. On display there were photos showing the Songun leadership exploits performed by leader Kim Jong Il.
    The minister of Culture and other speakers noted that that opportunity would help the people of Democratic Congo deeply understand the undying exploits of President Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.
    At the ceremony Otete Gaston Mboyo, chairman of the National Committee of the Genuine Lumumbist Patriotic Party of Democratic Congo, was elected chairman of the preparatory committee and Jean Baptiste Nkoy, general secretary of the People's Rally for Socialism of Democratic Congo, its vice-chairman.
    The preparatory committee set the commemoration period from Jan. 14 to the end of April and made public a program for functions to be held in this period.

DPRK Holidays to Be Marked in India

     Pyongyang, January 20 (KCNA) -- The Indian national preparatory committee for commemorating the Day of the Sun and February 16 was formed with due ceremony in New Delhi on Jan. 15. At the ceremony P. Shiv Shankar, chairman of the All India Indo-Korean Friendship Association who is former foreign minister, was elected chairman of the preparatory committee. And seven personages including Debabrata Biswas, general secretary of the Central Committee of the All-India Forward Bloc, Romesh Chandra, honorary president of the World Peace Council, and Vishwanath, director general of the International Institute of the Juche Idea, were elected vice-chairmen of the committee and Om Prakash Mantri, secretary general of the Asian Regional Committee to Support Korea's Reunification, its secretary general.
    The preparatory committee set a commemoration period from Jan. 20 to Apr. 20 and decided to widely organize colorful events including meeting, seminar, lecture, film show and photo exhibition to briskly introduce the brilliant revolutionary life of President Kim Il Sung, the Songun revolutionary leadership exploits of Supreme Commander Kim Jong Il and the successes achieved by the Korean people in the efforts to build a great prosperous powerful socialist nation and reunify the country independently and peacefully.

Joint New Year Editorial of DPRK Supported by Syrian Political Figures

     Pyongyang, January 20 (KCNA) -- Political figures of Syria issued statements on Jan. 4 expressing full support to the joint New Year editorial of the newspapers of the Workers' Party of Korea, the Korean People's Army and the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League. Adnan Ismail, deputy general secretary of the Socialist Unionist Party of Syria, referred to and warmly hailed the great victory and achievements made by the Korean people in all fields of the revolution and construction last year under the wise guidance of Kim Jong Il.
    He wished the party, government and people of the DPRK greater victory and success in their efforts for socialist construction and national reunification in the new year.
    Abdul Wahab Rashwani, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Syria (Bagdash), said that People's Korea has always won victories and successes on the forefront of the anti-imperialist, anti-U.S. struggle and the socialist construction, adding that the DPRK has become a beacon of hope for the world progressives.
    The key to the victory of People's Korea is the wise guidance of Kim Jong Il and the single-minded unity of the party, the army and the people rallied close around his leadership, he noted, adding that the members of the Communist Party and the friends of the DPRK in Syria hope that everything will go on well in it under the great Songun leadership this year, too, and reiterate their full support and solidarity for the Korean people's struggle.

Young People Vow Loyalty to Kim Jong Il

     Pyongyang, January 20 (KCNA) -- Young people from all walks of life in the DPRK held a meeting at the plaza of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace Thursday on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League to vow their loyalty to leader Kim Jong Il, representing the unshakable faith and will of the five million members of the young vanguard to carry forward generation after generation and accomplish the revolutionary cause of Juche under the Songun revolutionary leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). Led by Kim Kyong Ho, first secretary of the Central Committee of the youth league, the participants took oath to accomplish the revolutionary cause of Juche under the Songun leadership of Kim Jong Il, true to the behests of President Kim Il Sung.
    They pledged themselves to become the young vanguard firmly upholding and glorifying the revolutionary idea and feats of the President and steadfast and ardent fighters and genuine human beings who are sharing the destiny with Kim Jong Il to the last.
    They declared that they would glorify their youth at the posts for defending the country, make a breakthrough in the advance on all fronts of economic construction and intensify the drive for creations and innovations.
    They vowed to become indomitable vanguard fighters and true patriots decisively shattering the vicious moves of the imperialists to destroy the socialist system in the DPRK, in particular, and firmly defending the ideological position, the working class position of the Korean revolution and fully demonstrate the stamina of the Korean youths in the confrontation with the United States.
    They made a solemn pledge to consolidate all the youth league organizations to be ranks of young people devotedly defending the leader and single-mindedly united entities and turn the league into combat ranks of loyalists and powerful human bullets and bombs.
    Present at the meeting were Kim Jung Rin, secretary of the Central Committee of the WPK, officials concerned, officials of the youth league, the participants in the celebrations of the 60th founding anniversary of the youth league, and members of the delegation of Korean youths and students in Japan and the delegation of the Youth Federation of Korean Nationals in China and youth and students in Pyongyang.

Declaration Adopted by Delegates of International Federation

     Pyongyang, January 20 (KCNA) -- Delegates of the International Federation of the East European and Central Asian Regional Association for the Study of the Juche Idea and the Songun Politics held an information meeting in Kiev, Ukraine, on Jan. 4 in connection with the publication of the joint New Year editorial of the newspapers of the party, the army and the youth league in the DPRK, and adopted a declaration titled "To higher leap forward". In the declaration the participants pointed out that the DPRK made great achievements in national defence and economic construction, the cause of national reunification, international relations and other sectors last year.
    Expressing marvel at the vast targets set by the heroic Korean people, the declaration said that the vast target to proudly build an economic power in the 21st century, holding high the torch of the upsurging Songun revolution, will be successfully realized thanks to the Songun politics of placing the military affairs above anything else, the first of its kind in the world.
    We consider all the achievements made by the Workers' Party of Korea and the army and the people of the DPRK last year to be the brilliant fruition of the extraordinary Songun revolutionary leadership of Kim Jong Il, it said, and noted:
    We will in the future, too, heighten our ideological and theoretical level, widely propagandize the Juche idea and the Songun politics in the countries where we live, and continue advancing the revolution under the sacred banner in which the august names of President Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK, are inscribed forever.

Friendship Meeting with Staff Members of Cuban Embassy

     Pyongyang, January 20 (KCNA) -- The International Department of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea arranged a friendship meeting with staff members of the Cuban embassy here at Pyongyang Koryo Hotel on Thursday evening on the occasion of the New Year, Juche 95 (2006). Present on invitation were Cuban Ambassador Ruben Perez Valdes and embassy officials.
    On hand were Vice-Director Kim Thae Jong and other officials of the International Department of the C.C., the WPK.
    Speeches were made at the meeting.
    Participants deepened feelings of friendship, talking with each other about boosting in the new year, too, the friendly relations between the two parties and the two peoples of the DPRK and Cuba which are developing day by day under the deep care of leader Kim Jong Il and President Fidel Castro Ruz.

Receptions Given by Russian Ambassador

     Pyongyang, January 20 (KCNA) -- Andrei Karlov, Russian ambassador to the DPRK, gave receptions respectively at the embassy on Jan. 18 and 19 in honour of officials of the Korean Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries and the Ministry of Foreign Trade on the occasion of the New Year, Juche 95 (2006). Present on invitation were Hong Son Ok, vice-chairperson of the Korean Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries who is chairperson of the Korea-Russia Friendship Association, Kim Yong Jae, vice-minister of Foreign Trade, and officials of relevant organs.
    On hand were staff members of the Russian embassy.
    Speeches were made at the receptions.

Struggle against Imperialists' Psychological Warfare Called for

     Pyongyang, January 20 (KCNA) -- The imperialists' bourgeois ideological and cultural poisoning and psychological warfare are aimed at benumbing the people's consciousness of independence and their revolutionary spirit and creating illusion about capitalism among them in a bid to provide conditions for stifling the socialist and progressive countries and realizing their world domination. Rodong Sinmun Friday says this in a signed article.
    It goes on:
    The imperialists use the above-said poisoning and warfare as leverage for their aggression and interference.
    They attribute the collapse of socialism in some countries to their ideological and cultural offensive and psychological warfare conducted for scores of years. Precisely for this they are becoming more desperate in their bourgeois ideological and cultural poisoning and psychological warfare in a bid to intensify aggression and intervention against other countries and nations and establish the imperialist-led order for world domination.
    The U.S. imperialists are busy massively smuggling literature, video tapes dealing with sex, debauchery and misanthropy and other undesirable propaganda materials of various kinds into socialist and progressive countries. They are, at the same time, working hard to distribute anti-government propaganda materials among disruptive elements and spread false rumors in a bid to create confusion and division.
    It is an ideological standoff with imperialism and a war without gunfire to frustrate the imperialists' crafty and persistent ideological and cultural poisoning and psychological warfare.
    It is important to know well about the methods employed by the imperialists for such poisoning and warfare and react against them. While advocating "globalization" they are using "cooperation" and "exchange" as leverage for their ideological and cultural poisoning and psychological warfare.
    They use various kinds of literature, video tapes and broadcasting services for their false propaganda and spread wild rumors and bribe people in an effort to convert them into complainants, wavering and corrupt elements and renegades and create social instability.
    Underscoring the need to cut off all channels to be used by the imperialists for their ideological and cultural poisoning and psychological warfare, the article stresses: The triumphant advance of the human cause of independence depends on whether the imperialists' ideological and cultural poisoning and their psychological warfare are shattered or connived at and allowed.

Patriotic Struggle for Peace and Security of Country Called for

     Pyongyang, January 20 (KCNA) -- The struggle to drive the U.S. imperialist aggression troops out of south Korea is the most active struggle for peace against war to foil their policy of aggression on Korea and remove the root cause of war, says Rodong Sinmun Friday in a signed article. The situation of the Korean Peninsula has been abruptly strained and led to the brink of a war and a big obstacle has been laid in the way of the six-party talks for the peaceful solution of the nuclear issue due to the U.S. imperialists' moves for confrontation and war, the article says, and goes on: The U.S. troops in south Korea are the first target of the Korean nation's struggle to defend peace against war. They are the dangerous war forces which execute on the spot the U.S. policy of aggression on Korea and a root cause of creating tension and the danger of a war on the Korean Peninsula. The history of their occupation of south Korea is recorded with barbarous war of aggression and war provocation rackets; they have killed the Korean nation and harassed and destroyed peace and security on the Korean Peninsula.
    They are now frantically stepping up their preparations for a war of aggression against the north behind the scene of the six-party talks in a bid to realize their invariable ambition to stifle the DPRK.
    The Koreans can not live at ease as long as the U.S. troops remain in south Korea. The U.S. troops are the most dangerous entity which is directly threatening the existence and security of the Korean nation in this land and a root cause of a nuclear war which can never be allowed. Now that the Bush group is kicking up an anti-DPRK smear campaign to lay an artificial obstacle in the way of settling the nuclear issue and is openly working hard to provoke a nuclear war under that pretext, the danger of the U.S. imperialist aggression troops in south Korea as a root cause of escalating tension for a war is increasing.
    The historic cause of the Korean nation to prevent a war and defend peace on the Korean Peninsula should be orientated to a nationwide patriotic struggle to drive the U.S. troops out of south Korea at an early date.

250-mile Journey for National Liberation

     Pyongyang, January 20 (KCNA) -- Eighty-one years have elapsed since President Kim Il Sung paid a 250-mile journey for national liberation. The army and people of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea take this opportunity to recollect with deep emotion the noble patriotic idea of the President associated with the historic journey.
    In mid January Juche 14 (1925) when he studied in Mangyongdae true to the intention of his father Kim Hyong Jik that a man born in Korea must have a good knowledge of Korea, the young President was told that his father was arrested by the Japanese police again.
    He felt a terrible anger and hatred for the enemy. With a determination to fight at the risk of his life for taking revenge on the enemy of his father, his family and his nation, he set out on the 250-mile journey for national liberation on January 22.
    The route of the journey from Mangyongdae, Mangyongdae District, Pyongyang to Badaogou, the northeastern area of China, via South and North Phyongan, Jagang and Ryanggang Provinces of Korea was a rugged one beyond imagination.
    He negotiated one steep pass after another through biting cold and primitive forests where beasts roared even in the daytime. Keenly witnessing the miserable lots of the ruined nation wherever he went, he made a grime resolve not to return before Korea had become independent. The journey, covered by the President in his teens, was the path of independence against imperialism and of patriotic devotion, reflecting his firm conviction and unswerving resolution to beat back the aggressors violating the sovereignty of the nation.
    The revolutionary activities of Kim Il Sung, who adorned the modern history of the Korean people with heroic events and undying exploits, originated from the 250-mile Journey for National Liberation.
    Today the Korean people are bringing about the heyday of the Korean-style socialism, treading the long path of Songun revolution linked with the 250-mile journey for national liberation.

U.S. and S. Korean Warlike Forces' Anti-north War Moves Denounced

     Pyongyang, January 20 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland in a statement on Jan. 20 denounced the U.S. and the south Korean war-like forces for escalating their moves for confrontation with the north and clarified the will of the armed forces and people of the DPRK to strongly react against them. U.S. Secretary of State Rice let loose threatening and blackmailing remarks shortly ago that the U.S. has substantial deterrent to cope with the north's activities and the U.S. ambassador to south Korea also made threatening remarks that should the north cause instability over the nuclear issue the U.S. has a plan to check it.
    The south Korean military warhawks, too, are stepping up the preparations for a war at the U.S. instigation. They are busy developing and introducing modern war means including F-15K fighters and early warning planes while adjusting and reorganizing the overall operational command system of the south Korean forces. To top it all, they are contemplating the revision of the law on the establishment of the "Homeland Defence Reserve Forces" in a bid to rapidly hurl civilians into war.
    Such threat and blackmail and military moves on the part of the U.S. and the south Korean warhawks clearly indicate their undisguised attempt to launch a war of aggression against the DPRK to stifle it by force at any cost, the statement pointed out, and said:
    The committee strongly condemns such moves as a grave provocation against the DPRK and an unpardonable challenge to the desire and demand of all the Koreans and world peace-loving people for peace on the Korean Peninsula.
    The U.S. is labeling the DPRK a "criminal state" and a "dangerous state," citing its non-existent "human rights issue" and "issue of counterfeit notes." This is a dangerous prelude to a war as it is aimed to invent a pretext for the war of aggression.
    The army and people of the DPRK are well aware of the U.S. aggressive nature and methods and its belligerent nature and are fully ready to cope with every event.
    The U.S. and its allies should know that they will not be safe from the DPRK's merciless counteraction.
    The south Korean military authorities should stop supporting the U.S. nuclear war policy quite contrary to the trend of the nation and the times.

S. Korean Delegation Here

     Pyongyang, January 20 (KCNA) -- A delegation of the Movement for Reunified Korean Nation of south Korea led by its Secretary General Choe Pyong Mo arrived here today. It was greeted at the airport by Jong Tok Gi, vice-chairman of the National Reconciliation Council, and officials concerned.

For Spanish-speaking people

Encuentro de amistad con miembros de la embajada cubana

    　Pyongyang, 20 de enero (ATCC) -- El Departamento de Relaciones Internacionales del Comite Central del Partido del Trabajo de Corea ofrecio el dia 19 por la noche en el Hotel Koryo de Pyongyang un encuentro de amistad con los miembros de la Embajada de la Republica de Cuba en la Republica Popular Democratica de Corea con motivo del ano nuevo 95 (2006) de la Era Juche. 　Al acto fueron invitados el embajador extraordinario y plenipotenciario Ruben Perez Valdes y otros miembros de la sede diplomatica. 　Estuvieron presentes alli el subjefe, Kim Thae Jong, y otros funcionarios de dicho departamento.
    　En la ocasion hubo discursos.
    　Los participantes profundizaron el sentimiento de amistad departiendo sobre el problema de fortalecer tambien en el ano nuevo las relaciones de amistad entre los partidos y los pueblos de Corea y Cuba que se desarrollan cada dia mas bajo la profunda atencion del Dirigente Kim Jong Il y el Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro Ruz.

Demanda para el desarrollo independiente y defensa de soberania

    　Pyongyang, 20 de enero (ATCC) -- Los imperialistas intensifican la penetracion ideologica y cultural burguesa e intriga psicologica para adormecer la conciencia independiente y el espiritu revolucionario de la gente, crear una ilusion sobre el capitalismo, aplastar a los paises socialistas y progresistas y preparar condiciones favorables para la realizacion de su dominio sobre el mundo. Senala asi el diario Rodong Sinmun en un articulo individual del dia 20 y prosigue:
    La penetracion ideologica y cultural burguesa y la intriga psicologica son un medio de agresion e intervencion de los imperialistas. El derrumbe del socialismo en algunos paises lo describen los imperialistas como "resultado" de su ofensiva ideologica y cultural e intriga psicologica de varias decadas. Por eso, ellos se valen de estas campanas para hacer mas efectivos sus actos de agresion e intervencion y establecer con mas facilidad el orden de dominio suyo sobre el mundo.
    Los imperialistas estadounidenses infiltran en los paises socialistas y progresistas gran cantidad de libros, videocintas y otras publicaciones de contenidos eroticos, degenerados, viciosos y misantropicos, distribuyen materiales de propaganda antigubernamental a los elementos malsanos y difunden rumores infundados para crear la confusion y division.
    Hoy dia, frustrar la penetracion ideologica y cultural y la intriga psicologica de los imperialistas es una confrontacion ideologica y una guerra sin tiroteo contra los imperialistas.
    Es importante saber a fondo y hacer frente a los metodos del particular.
    Los imperialistas, al clamar por la "globalizacion", aprovechan la "cooperacion" y el "intercambio" como una palanca para la realizacion de la penetracion ideologica y cultural y la intriga psicologica.
    A traves de la propaganda por medios publicitarios, televisivos y radiodifusores, la creacion y difusion de rumores falsos, el soborno y seduccion de las personas, despliegan el complot para lograr que aparezcan los quejones, vacilantes, corruptos y traidores para inestabilizar la sociedad. Es importante cortar todas las vias que sirven de palancas para dichas campanas de los imperialistas. Hay que frustrarlas para asegurar el avance victorioso de la causa de independencia de la humanidad.