Greatest Holidays of DPRK to Be Commemorated

    Pyongyang, January 9 (KCNA) -- The Ugandan Preparatory Committee for Commemorating the Day of the Sun and February 16 was formed with due ceremony in Kampala on Jan. 2. The ceremony elected Chairman of the Ugandan National Committee for the Study of the Juche Idea Baguma Isoke chairman of the preparatory committee.
    The above-said chairman, addressing the ceremony, said that to significantly commemorate the birthdays of President Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il is a work for conveying the greatness and exploits of the peerlessly great persons to posterity, underlining the need to increase the role of the preparatory committee.
    Senior Adviser to the Presidency of Uganda Chango Machyo in his speech referred to the greatness and leadership exploits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, saying that it is a due obligation to significantly commemorate the birthdays of the great persons.

Abolition of NSL and Release of Prisoners of Conscience Demanded in S. Korea

    Pyongyang, January 9 (KCNA) -- The south Korean Family Movement for Realizing Democracy reportedly held the 647th Thursday rally at Thapgol Park, Seoul, on Jan. 4, at which it demanded the abolition of the "National Security Law" and the release of the prisoners of conscience. Ri Yong, permanent chairman of the movement, and other speakers at the rally deplored that many prominent people who had fought for the democratization of the society and national reunification are still undergoing sufferings behind bars on this land, denied elementary freedom and rights as human beings.
    They charged that all this is attributable to the NSL.
    They urged the "government" to abolish the NSL at an early date and let the prisoners of conscience go back to their families.

End to History of Subordination and Division Urged

    Pyongyang, January 9 (KCNA) -- The Solidarity for Implementing the South-North Joint Declaration in south Korea reportedly issued a New Year appeal entitled "Let's put an end to the disgraceful history of subordination and division through the general offensive for independence, democracy and reunification" on Jan. 1. 2007 is a year decisive in terminating the showdown with the U.S. and ushering in the era of independence, democracy and reunification, the appeal said, stressing the need to concentrate all efforts on the anti-U.S., anti-war struggle and the struggle to force the U.S. troops out of south Korea and thus win a victory in the historical confrontation with the U.S.
    The forces supporting the June 15 joint declaration and peaceful reunification of Korea and the democratic reformists, it said, should form a large anti-conservative coalition to provide a decisive guarantee for victory in the "presidential elections" this year.
    It also called for turning out as one in the reunification movement under the banner of the June 15 joint declaration and bringing earlier the day of national reunification.

GNP's Attempt to Grab Power Assailed

    Pyongyang, January 9 (KCNA) -- The south Korean Grand National Party is working at fever pitch to grab power after working out what it calls "a strategic document" targeted at the "presidential elections" scheduled this year. Commenting on this, a Rodong Sinmun analyst Tuesday says:
    This document of the GNP, remnants of the defeated in history, reveals the desperate frenzy of those seized with ambition for power.
    This "election strategy" of the GNP disclosed this time is, in a word, a plot to hurl society into a crucible of "ideological confrontation" through "a general turnout of the rightists" and fish in troubled waters. The GNP's outcry for the "general turnout of the rightists" is an act of calling the ghost of the era of fascist dictatorship.
    If the ultra-right conservative forces seized power in south Korea with the GNP's scheme to return to power realized, the June 15 joint declaration would be scrapped and inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation and peace and security of the nation be endangered. This is as clear as noonday.
    Now the south Korean people are standing at the crossroads: to opt for progressive reforms for the independence and democracy of society and national reunification or allow the prevalence of right-wing conservatism seeking submission to the U.S., fascism and national division. The reality calls on the south Korean people to turn out as one in the massive struggle to frustrate the scheme to return to power sought by the GNP bent on turning society into a dark tundra again.

Countries Advocating Independence Urged to Get Rid of Subservience to Foreign Forces

    Pyongyang, January 9 (KCNA) -- What the people of the countries advocating independence should bear in mind is they should discard the subservience to outside forces. Rodong Sinmun today observes this in a signed article.
    Subservience and dependence upon foreign forces are prompted by an illusion and fear of foreign forces, the article notes, and goes on:
    To read the faces of foreign forces and flatter and submit to them over the issue of protecting the sovereignty and interests of the country and the nation is like committing a suicide as it leads to death and national ruin.
    Any attempt to solve problems in reliance upon the imperialists is little short of leaving one's own destiny to the tender mercy of the pack of fierce wolves. To yield to and depend upon foreign forces means abandoning one's independent rights and forgetting the position and awareness of being responsible for one's destiny. This will only lead to national ruin and enslavement.
    What is important for getting rid of subservience and dependence on foreign forces is to see through the aggressive nature of the imperialists. Their aggressive and predatory nature can never change no matter how much water may flow under the bridge.
    No matter how frantically the imperialists may escalate their pressure and blackmail against the above-said countries, they should neither yield to them nor discard their viewpoint and faith.
    Countries and nations can protect their dignity and sovereignty and achieve social progress and prosperity only when they fight imperialism to a bitter end.
    The spirit of independence serves as a tonic for the countries and the nations in their development whereas the idea of subservience and dependence on the foreign forces is as harmful as poison.

Adherence to Idea of "By Our Nation Itself" Called for

    Pyongyang, January 9 (KCNA) -- The idea of "By our nation itself" will serve as an immortal banner of national unity and independent reunification until the historic cause of national reunification has been accomplished, Rodong Sinmun today stresses in a by-lined article. What is of importance, at present, in achieving the independent reunification of Korea by united efforts of its nation is to hold fast to and strictly apply the idea of "By our nation itself", the author of the article says, and goes on:
    This idea represents the idea of national unity and independent reunification.
    It calls for solving the issue of Korea's reunification, the national issue, by united efforts of all the Koreans responsible for it without any interference of outside forces.
    "By our nation itself", consistent with the steadfast idea of national independence and the spirit of national unity, is the most just and patriotic, great proposition on independent reunification.
    The spirit of national unity and the idea of national independence contained in "By our nation itself" are the idea of national reunification invariably maintained by the Workers' Party of Korea from long ago.
    "By our nation itself" serves as the lifeline in achieving the great unity of the whole nation and the independent reunification.
    All Koreans will usher in the heyday of independent reunification by invariably holding high the banner of "By our nation itself", the idea of national unity and independent reunification, and implementing to the letter the three-point task set forth in the joint New Year editorial.

Youths Meet to Implement Joint New Year Editorial

    Pyongyang, January 9 (KCNA) -- A rally of members of the young vanguard took place at the Open Air Theater of the Youth Park on Jan. 8 to carry out to the letter the militant tasks laid down in the joint New Year editorial. The reporter and speakers at the rally noted that the general march for this year called the young men and women to a heroic struggle and feats previously unknown, and said they should firmly arm themselves with the idea of the Workers' Party of Korea and prepare themselves as the first death-defying corps defending the headquarters of the revolution.
    Calling upon the young people to take the lead in the building of an economic power, they said all the problems arising in the improvement of the people's living standard should be resolved as required by the Songun era.
    The young people should actively join the Korean People's Army to defend the gains of revolution and earnestly acquire military knowledge so as to thoroughly establish the habit of attaching importance to the military affairs all over the country.
    An appeal to the organizations of the youth league and the youth and students across the country was adopted at the meeting.
    It called on all the young men and women to perform great feats for the Party and the country to be young heroes and patriotic youths praised by the people.
    It said they should proceed to difficult and labor-consuming sections such as the construction site of the Paektusan Songun Youth Power Station and fully display the stamina of youth.
    It urged the youth to display the resourcefulness and valor of the Songun young vanguard to the world once again in the drive to implement the joint New Year editorial under the Songun leadership of Kim Jong Il.
    Present at the meeting was Kim Jung Rin, secretary of the C.C., the WPK.

Miru Plain Turns into Granary

    Pyongyang, January 9 (KCNA) -- Miru Plain which had been regarded as wasteland has turned into a main granary of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, under the deep care of the great leaders. Right after the liberation of the country, President Kim Il Sung put forward a far-reaching plan to convert the Miru Plain into a granary. And during the hard-fought Fatherland Liberation War (1950.6-1953.7), he inspired peasants there with confidence and optimism, saying the plain should be reclaimed after the war so that they might be well off with nothing to envy more.
    The President visited the then State Singye General Farm in June Juche 46 (1957). Rejecting some people's opinion about disbanding the farm, he said that the farm should not be dissolved but further developed and made hours to discuss the issue of reclaiming the soil and the prospects of fruit-culture and stockbreeding.
    In September of the same year, he came there again and took detailed measures to push ahead with the land reclamation and irrigation project in a big way.
    Later, he saw to it that a lot of trucks, tractors, water pumps and construction materials including cement were sent to the farm on several occasions.
    Kim Jong Il paid a visit to the plain in September 2005. Then he instructed officials that the government's investment should be augmented and forces concentrated while making best use of the already-laid material and technical foundations, thus opening up a brilliant vista for effecting a fresh turn in the farming on the plain.
    In response to the joint New Year editorial's call for converting the Miru Plain associated with the leadership exploits of the President into a solid grain production base, the agricultural working people there are busy with farming preparations for the year while vigorously carrying on the Miru Plain Water-way project.

Three Tasks for Independent Reunification

    Pyongyang, January 9 (KCNA) -- The joint New Year editorial puts forward the slogan, "Add brilliance to the June 15 reunification era by attaching importance to the nation, maintaining peace and achieving unity!" The slogan reflects the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration which solemnly declared at home and abroad that the issue of national reunification would be settled in an independent way with the concerted efforts of the Korean nation.
    Now the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula are under grave threat due to the obstructions of the separatists within and without.
    The U.S. is dead set against the independent reunification of the Korean nation and increases the danger of a new war, nuclear war, obstructing the reconciliation and unity of the nation. The "Grand National Party" and other pro-U.S. conservatives are taking the road of north-south confrontation, blindly following the U.S.
    A councilor of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland Jon Pyong Hun in an interview with KCNA said that the reality calls on the whole nation to turn out as one in the efforts to implement the three tasks--attaching importance to the nation, maintaining peace and achieving unity.
    He went on:
    Attaching importance to the nation is a basic stand the Koreans who have been subjected to division and war by foreign forces for 60-odd years should hold fast to. National demand and interests should be regarded as an absolute yardstick in dealing with all the affairs, and the principles of maintaining independence and giving priority to and defending the nation in the face of any pressure and blackmail of outsiders should be advocated.
    Peace is a key to the reunification of the country and common prosperity of the nation. All the Korean people should turn out in the struggle for peace against war in order to smash the military pressure, war exercise and military buildup that threaten the nation, and launch a dynamic campaign to drive the U.S. occupation troops, the root cause of war, out of south Korea.
    To achieve unity is an urgent demand of the reunification movement.
    Unity is a way to national existence and prime mover of the cause of the country's reunification. The Koreans in the north, south and abroad should bring the atmosphere of reconciliation and unity to a crescendo under the banner of independent reunification, and further promote solidarity and alliance between different reunification movement organizations with the June 15 All-Korean Committee as an umbrella body. A heyday of the cause of independent reunification will be certain to come in this land only when all Koreans in the north, south and abroad successfully carry out the three tasks--attaching importance to the nation, defending peace and achieving unity.

President Kim Il Sung's Immortal Exploits

    Pyongyang, January 9 (KCNA) -- All the people of the DPRK are replete with enthusiasm for further glorifying the imperishable exploits gained by President Kim Il Sung in this significant year in which they are greeting his 95th birth anniversary. He fathered the great Juche idea in his early years to indicate the road ahead for the humankind. For this he is lauded not only by the Korean people but by the revolutionary people of the world as the great thinker and theoretician, the legendary hero and the most outstanding man produced by the 20th century.
    Over the last years the army and people of Korea have followed the leadership of the President with a firm belief in him and thus won victory after victory.
    Therefore their loyalty to him has stricken deep in their minds through life.
    The President built the Workers' Party of Korea as an invincible one which serves the people and the government of the DPRK as a genuine people's government, achieved the unity and cohesion of the leader, Party and people and defeated two imperialisms, the U.S. and the Japanese, in one generation.
    The glorious history of victory made by the DPRK and the present prosperity of Songun Korea which is demonstrating its dignity all over the world are associated with his august name.
    He initiated the cause of building a Juche-oriented socialist powerful nation and provided an eternal foundation for its accomplishment.
    His glorious revolutionary career is a history of Songun leadership.
    The invincibility and rosy future of the Korean revolution which started under the banner of the great Juche idea, Songun idea rest on Songun.
    The Korean people will make this a year of greater efflorescence of his wish for a prosperous and powerful country and turn the Juche-oriented Korea into the socialist powerful country which is demonstrating high dignity with its great idea, invincible single-minded unity and powerful military capabilities under the Songun leadership of Kim Jong Il.

Japanese Reactionaries' Moves to Discard "Pacifist Constitution" Assailed

    Pyongyang, January 9 (KCNA) -- The Abe government's claim to revise the "Pacifist Constitution" during its term of office discloses its wild ambition to convert Japan into a state for a war of aggression at any cost, says Minju Joson Tuesday in a signed commentary. For Japan to rewrite its constitution which it has so far claimed to be a pacifist one can not but be a very dangerous development as it is aimed at putting the peace and security in Northeast Asia and the rest of the world at peril, the commentary notes, and goes on:
    There is no reason for Japan to rewrite the existing constitution if it wants to fully settle its crime-woven past in which it drenched Asia with blood and remain a pacifist state.
    What Japan seeks is to replace the "Pacifist Constitution," a hurdle lying in its way, by a new war constitution and launch militarist aggression overseas. The emergence of a new warlike state in Northeast Asia presages that there may repeat in the region the same massacre and destruction as what were perpetrated during the Second World War.
    The Japanese reactionaries had better know that the international community will never remain a passive on-looker to the revival of militarism.

Japanese Authorities' Suppression of Chongryon Assailed

    Pyongyang, January 9 (KCNA) -- British organizations in statements on Jan. 3 and 4 denounced the Japanese authorities' undisguised suppression of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon). The British Association for the Study of Songun Policy in a statement recalled the recent fact that the rights of Koreans in Japan are wantonly infringed upon and their safety seriously threatened due to the Japanese authorities' suppression of Chongryon.
    The statement said that the above-said act runs counter to the international law and the spirit of the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration, strongly demanding the Japanese authorities respect the democratic national rights of Koreans in Japan.
    It fully supported Chongryon in its activities to defend the independent rights of Koreans in Japan and achieve the peaceful reunification of the country. The British Branch of the Friendship Association with the Korean People in a statement demanded the Japanese authorities immediately stop the crackdown upon Chongryon and guarantee all the rights of Koreans in Japan.

Suppression of Koreans in Japan Denounced

    Pyongyang, January 9 (KCNA) -- Jang Song Hoe, chairman of the south Korean Federation of University Student Councils (Hanchongryon), reportedly made public a statement on Jan. 2, denouncing the Japanese authorities and ultra-right conservatives for viciously suppressing the Korean residents in Japan while justifying the step to ban the entry of the DPRK ship "Mangyongbong-92" into Japanese ports. What is more serious is that the Japanese reactionaries have applied sanctions against the DPRK and perpetrated the suppression of Korean residents in close connection with the U.S. imperialists' moves for a nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula, the statement pointed out.
    The statement said that the only way for ensuring the Korean nation's right to existence and peace and security in Northeast Asia is to wage a struggle to denounce the Japanese reactionaries' suppression of Korean residents.
    The struggle of Koreans in Japan against such suppression is just, it said, calling on those, who have national conscience, to join them in their struggle.
    The statement declared that as long as such suppression by the Japanese reactionaries continues, Hanchongryon will conduct all-people anti-Japanese struggle together with all the progressive organizations in south Korea.

For Spanish-speaking people

Rodong Sinmun revela el intento del "GPN" de usurpar el "poder"

    Pyongyang, 9 de enero (ATCC) -- En estos dias, el "Gran Partido Nacional" (GPN) del Sur de Corea maniobra desesperadamente para arrebatar el "poder" inventando hasta el "documento de la estrategia" con miras a las "elecciones presidenciales" de este ano. Este "documento" demuestra fehacientemente la insaciable ambicion por el poder de esa banda de basuras de la historia.
    Asi senala el periodico Rodong Sinmun en un comentario individual del dia 9 y continua:
    En una palabra, la recien revelada "estrategia electoral" es una intriga para sacar provechos al hacer caer la sociedad surcoreana en el crisol del "enfrentamiento ideologico" mediante el "levantamiento general de la derecha".
    De esta manera, esa agrupacion trata de revitalizar el fantasma del regimen de dictadura fascista.
    Es obvio que si las fuerzas conservadoras ultraderechistas lideradas por el "GPN" llegan al poder, se invalidara la Declaracion Conjunta del 15 de Junio y correran grave peligro las labores de reconciliacion y cooperacion entre el Norte y el Sur, la paz y la seguridad de la nacion.
    La poblacion surcoreana esta a punto de vivir el momento historico de optar por la reforma progresista en pro de la independencia y la democratizacion de la sociedad y la reunificacion de la patria o la conservacion derechista a favor de la sumision a EE.UU., el fascismo y la division nacional.
    　La realidad demanda a los surcoreanos levantarse unanimemente en la lucha masiva por frustrar el intento de retoma del poder del "GPN", que pretende convertir otra vez la sociedad surcoreana en un terreno obscurantista.

Japon quiere emerger como Estado belicista, revela Minju Joson

    Pyongyang, 9 de enero (ATCC) -- El periodico Minju Joson inserto en su edicion de este martes un comentario individual criticando al gobierno de Abe que se propone enmendar durante su mandato la "constitucion pacifista". 　Esta idea es una muestra de la ambicion del mandatario japones de convertir a toda costa su pais en un Estado belicista y agresor, ratifica el comentarista y continua:
    　La enmienda de la "constitucion" vigente, pintada de pacifista hasta la fecha por el pais-archipielago, devendra un acontecimiento muy peligroso para la paz y la seguridad del Nordeste Asiatico y el resto del mundo.
    　Si Japon quiere quedarse como Estado pacifista separandose para siempre de su criminal historia de haber sumergido en el pasado el continente asiatico en un bano de sangre, no tendria ningun motivo para modificarla.
    　Lo que desean los gobernantes japoneses es aprobar una nueva constitucion belicista en lugar de la "pacifista", que los ataban hasta ahora, para lanzarse a sus anchas a la agresion militarista a ultramar.
    　La aparicion de un nuevo Estado belicista en el Nordeste Asiatico augura que podrian llegar aquellos tiempos de genocidio y destruccion como en la Segunda Guerra Mundial.
    　Los reaccionarios islenos deben darse cuenta de que la sociedad internacional no se quedara con brazos cruzados ante el resurgimiento del militarismo.

Comite preparatorio de Uganda para efemerides de Corea

    Pyongyang, 9 de enero (ATCC) -- Quedo constituido el dia 2 en Kampala el Comite Preparatorio de Uganda para el Dia del Sol (15 de abril, cumpleanos del Presidente Kim Il Sung) y el 16 de Febrero (cumpleanos del Dirigente Kim Jong Il). Como su presidente fue electo el titular del Comite Nacional Ugandes para el Estudio de la Idea Juche, Baguma Isoke.
    Al hacer uso de la palabra en la ceremonia constitutiva, el dijo que celebrar solemnemente los cumpleanos del Presidente y el Dirigente significa una labor para transmitir eternamente las nobles personalidades y hazanas de estos grandes hombres de todos los tiempos y resalto la importancia de mejorar el papel del comite naciente.
    El Asesor Superior de la Presidencia de Uganda, Chango Machyo, en su discurso, se refirio a las nobles personalidades y las hazanas de direccion del Presidente y el Dirigente y anadio que resulta natural que celebren significativamente esas efemerides coreanas.

Juventud coreana jura materializar tareas de editorial conjunto

    Pyongyang, 9 de enero (ATCC) -- Tuvo lugar la vispera en el Teatro al Aire Libre en el Parque Juventud un mitin de los vanguardias juveniles para cumplir cabalmente las tareas combativas presentadas en el editorial conjunto de Ano Nuevo de los periodicos Rodong Sinmun, Joson Inmingun y Chongnyon Jonwi. 　El informante y otros oradores dijeron que la marcha general de este ano estimula a los jovenes a la lucha y meritos heroicos sin precedentes y apuntaron que estos deben armarse firmemente con la idea del PTC y prepararse como el destacamento que defiende en la primera linea a la Direccion de la Revolucion.
    　Tras destacar que la juventud debe ser abanderada en la construccion de una potencia economica, ellos prosiguieron que es preciso resolver todos los problemas en el mejoramiento de la vida del pueblo, segun la demanda de la epoca del Songun (priorizacion militar).
    　Concluyeron que los jovenes deben alistarse en el ejercito popular para salvaguardar las conquistas de la revolucion, adquirir con asiduo los conocimientos militares y establecer en todo el pais un estricto ambiente de dar prioridad a los asuntos militares.
    　En el conclave se aprobo un llamamiento a las filiales de la Union de la Juventud, los jovenes y estudiantes de todo el pais.
    　El documento exhorta a todos a realizar grandes meritos para el partido y la patria y a ser heroes y patriotas jovenes, adorados por el pueblo.
    　Remarca que los jovenes deben exaltar la gallardia de la juventud en la construccion de la Central Hidroelectrica Juventud Songun del monte Paektu y otras ramas mas dificiles.
    　Todos han de demostrar otra vez a todo el mundo la inteligencia y el coraje de las vanguardias juveniles del Songun en la lucha por cumplir las tareas del citado editorial conjunto bajo la direccion del Songun del Dirigente Kim Jong Il, finaliza el llamamiento.
    　En la ocasion estuvo presente el secretario del Comite Central del Partido del Trabajo de Corea, Kim Jung Rin.