Kim Yong Nam Flies back
Pyongyang, April 1 (KCNA) -- Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, returned home on Tuesday by special plane after wrapping up his official goodwill visit to Namibia, Angola, Democratic Congo and Uganda.
Pak Ui Chun, minister of Foreign Affairs, Choe Chang Sik, minister of Public Health, and other suite members flew back together with him.
They were greeted at the airport by Yang Hyong Sop, vice-president of the Presidium of the SPA of the DPRK, Kim Hyong Jun, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs, Ri Myong San, vice-minister of Foreign Trade, Ri Pong Hun, vice-minister of Public Health, and Liu Xiaoming, Chinese ambassador to the DPRK.
Delegation of the Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries Leaves for Latin America
Pyongyang, April 1 (KCNA) -- A delegation of the Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries led by its Acting Chairman Mun Jae Chol left here Tuesday to visit Latin American countries. A delegation of officials of the Workers' Party of Korea led by Secretary of the Committee of the Ministry of Forestry of the WPK Paek Kye Ryong also left here on the same day to visit China.
Keith Bennett, secretary general of the International Kim Il Sung Foundation, arrived here Tuesday.
Posters Released to Commemorate Day of Sun
Pyongyang, April 1 (KCNA) -- Posters for the 1st National Art Festival for Commemorating the Day of the Sun have been produced.
They represent the unanimous aspiration and desire of the Korean people to convey the greatness of President Kim Il Sung and his immortal revolutionary exploits to posterity and significantly commemorate the Day of the Sun.
Depicted on a poster are Kimilsungia and Kimjongilia, immortal flowers, in full bloom and the flag of the festival fluttering in the blue sky of the country of Songun. It reflects the pure and sincere desire of the Korean people to demonstrate the firm faith and will that President Kim Il Sung will always be with them and eternally glorify the undying exploits of General Secretary Kim Jong Il who accomplished the cause of perpetuating the memory of the President through the all-people art festival to be held in grand style.
Posters on the inter-sector festivals express belief that the festivals will clearly demonstrate the vitality of the professional and popular arts, which make rapid progress in the era of Songun, in vigorously promoting the building of a great prosperous powerful socialist nation and stirring up revolutionary optimism and militant spirit throughout the society.
Letters "The 1st National Art Festival for Commemorating the Day of the Sun", festival logo and festival period are written on the posters.
New School Year Begins
Pyongyang, April 1 (KCNA) -- A new school year has begun in the DPRK.
Ceremonies of starting the school year took place at universities, colleges and middle and primary schools across the country on Tuesday.
Teachers and students there and parents warmly congratulated newcomers.
Reports and speeches were made at the ceremonies.
At the end of the ceremonies, the first lesson started for the new school year.
Prize Awarded to Students
Pyongyang, April 1 (KCNA) -- A ceremony of awarding "Prize for Students' Scientific Pursuit" took place here on Monday.
At the ceremony the certificate and medal were awarded to at least 720 students including Kim Byol, student of Kim Il Sung University, and Choe Chung Sim, student of Kim Jong Thae Haeju University of Education No. 1 who distinguished themselves in study and scientific inquiry.
Papers Call for Eternally Glorifying Socialist Motherland as Kim Il Sung's Country
Pyongyang, April 1 (KCNA) -- Leading newspapers Tuesday editorially stress that eternal prosperity and happiness of our country and people lie in steadily adding luster to the august name and exploits of President Kim Il Sung, calling for eternally glorifying the socialist motherland as the country of the President.
Rodong Sinmun says that the high prestige of the DPRK and happiness of its people and all the precious revolutionary gains would be unthinkable without the exploits of the President.
The life of the President was the most brilliant life of the peerless patriot who devoted himself to the country and the people and our motherland is Kim Il Sung's Korea as it should go only by his august name, Rodong Sinmun notes, and goes on:
Our country is winning one victory after another along the road of Juche paved by the President.
It is his greatest exploit that he fathered the immortal Juche idea, clearly indicating the road for the country and the nation to follow.
Ours is a powerful country enjoying prosperity with the precious legacy bequeathed to us by the President as an eternal foundation.
In the whole period of steering the revolution and construction, he always designed everything, looking far ahead into the future of the country and the revolution, and provided every precious treasure to be handed down to all generations to come.
General Secretary Kim Jong Il has made endless journeys despite the hottest weather of summer and coldest weather in winter. All what the President desired in his lifetime is becoming a brilliant reality thanks to this forced march made by Kim Jong Il with patriotic devotion.
Minju Joson calls upon the people to make a fresh leaping advance in the general offensive for building a great prosperous powerful nation true to the Songun revolutionary leadership of Kim Jong Il and thus eternally glorify the exploits performed by Kim Il Sung in building a rich and powerful country.
U.S. Conservative Hard-liners' Hindrance to Six-party Talks Assailed
Pyongyang, April 1 (KCNA) -- Bolton, known to be a most hawkish element in the U.S., in an article contributed to the recent issue of the Wall Street Journal, asked the authorities to stop the six-party talks and increase the international pressure upon the DPRK.
Rodong Sinmun today in a signed commentary carried in this regard says:
Bolton asserted that the U.S. should stop the six-party talks and make a switchover to the offensive for pressurizing the DPRK so that the U.S. may carry on the "earlier security strategy" pursued by it before the start of the talks. This assertion represents the wrong stance of the U.S. conservative hard-liners displeased with the talks.
At a time when international public attention is focused on the resumption of the six-party talks for the settlement of the nuclear issue between the DPRK and the U.S. the U.S. conservative hard-liners only wish to see the talks collapse and the situation deteriorate. As far as the delay made in the implementation of the points agreed upon at the talks is concerned, the U.S. is chiefly to blame for this.
The U.S. conservative hard-liners are talking about "benefits" and "delay" though they do not know properly what is now under discussion at the talks. This is nothing but a jargon that can be let loose only by those who seek to shift all blames onto the DPRK in a bid to bring back the situation to the period before the start of the talks.
It is naive for them to calculate they can settle the issue by way of pressure. And it is a daydream for them to try to get something by browbeating the DPRK through the international cooperation in pressurizing it.
The U.S. moves to increase the pressure upon the DPRK by pursuing a hard-line policy of pressure instead of seeking a negotiated settlement of the issue will only result in derailing the process for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Should the U.S. conservative hard-liners push the situation on the peninsula and the DPRK-U.S. relations to the worst phase, doggedly opposed to the negotiated solution of the issue, the U.S. will be held wholly responsible for the ensuing catastrophic consequences, warns the commentary.
Japan Urged to Make Apology and Reparation for Its Crimes
Pyongyang, April 1 (KCNA) -- The Japanese authorities should make an apology and reparation for the crimes committed against the Korean nation for more than a century and drop their hostile policy towards the DPRK at an early date, Minju Joson says this in a signed commentary.
The Japanese reactionaries are nowadays intensifying their suppression and persecution against the Koreans, who narrowly escaped death after being forcibly taken to Japan by the Japanese imperialists during the period of their colonial rule, and their descendants and trying to repeatedly extend the economic sanctions against the DPRK, the commentary notes, and goes on:
Japan enforced a harsh colonial rule over Korea for 40 odd years after occupying it. Since the liberation of Korea on August 15, 1945, Japan has pursued a hostile policy towards the DPRK for over six decades. The Japanese reactionaries are a gang of heinous criminals who are utterly indifferent to elementary human ethics and morality and international law as they have committed endless crimes for over a century.
The moves of this criminal group to step up their hostile policy towards the DPRK would only leave Japan further isolated at home and abroad.
All Koreans in the north and the south and overseas are now renewing their determination to take a thorough stock of the crimes committed against the Korean nation for more than a century and certainly force Japan to pay a high price for them.
Criminals are bound to be punished.
Minju Joson Blasts U.S. Reckless Military Build-up
Pyongyang, April 1 (KCNA) -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Gates asserted, in his recent report submitted to Congress, that the U.S. should ensure the intensive information-gathering and the protection of cyber system as part of its strategy for staging two wars simultaneously and boost the military cooperation with its allies and bolster its military strength.
Commenting on it, Minju Joson today says:
This goes to prove that the U.S. remains unchanged in its design to dominate the world by force and seeks to further strengthen the military cooperation with its allies to put its design into practice.
The U.S. is steadily increasing the military spending and massively manufacturing new sophisticated offensive war equipment to realize its ambition for world supremacy. In the meantime, it seeks to increase the capability for fighting a war in the field of cyber so as to cope with a modern warfare.
This is clearly evidenced by the establishment of a "cyber command" projected by the U.S. Air Force. The U.S. asserts that the establishment of the above-said command is aimed to protect its computer network from enemy's cyber attack, develop new mode of combat depending on the progress of technology and thus acquire capabilities to cope with a modern electronic warfare.
This indicates that the U.S. is scheming to step up the modernization of its aggression forces to cope with the cyber warfare in a bid to hold military hegemony based on technological edge.
The above-said moves are very dangerous as they may spark off a global arms race.
The U.S. had better drop its wild design to dominate the world by force, pondering over the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by its reckless military build-up.
Unreasonable Educational Policy under Fire in S. Korea
Pyongyang, April 1 (KCNA) -- At least 10,000 students and people from all walks of life from across south Korea staged a large-scale action in Seoul on March 28 in protest against the authorities' unreasonable educational policy.
A rally marking "March 28, the day of national student action" took place in the plaza in front of the Seoul City Office.
Attending it were students of more than 100 universities under the south Korean Federation of University Student Councils, the "the National Students Committee for Educational Measures" and the "National Council of Representatives of Students of Colleges of Education".
The participants in the rally accused the "government" and university sides of having taken no steps till now though the students strongly demanded they immediately settle the problem of spiraling registration fees.
In a declaration the participants declared they would set the period from March 29 to April 8 as a period of action, launch a powerful struggle and judge those politicians who shun the settlement of the issue of registration fee through the upcoming "national assembly election."
Then, students, workers, peasants, members of civic and public organizations and citizens held an all-people rally demanding the settlement of the issue of registration fee.
At the rally speakers denounced the present "government" for deceiving the people with a false promise to cut down the registration fee 50 per cent.
Demanding an end to the authorities' unreasonable educational policy, they declared they would wage an all-people struggle for the settlement of the above-said issue.
At the end of the rally its participants staged a demonstration.
Settlement of Issue of Part-time Jobs Demanded in S. Korea
Pyongyang, April 1 (KCNA) -- At least 270 civic and public organizations of south Korea called a press conference in Seoul on March 26 at which they demanded the authorities settle the issue of part-time jobs.
At the press conference speakers recalled that even this hour many part-timers are on strikes and sit-ins in demand of the guarantee of their vital rights, the actions which have lasted more than 280 days.
They accused the "government" of undisguisedly threatening the protesters that it would arrest anyone participating in a rally and defending the enterprise owners' inhuman acts.
Assailing the "government" authorities for forcibly driving the part-timers out of the scenes of their sit-in strikes under the pretext of "illegality" and inflicting penalties upon trade union members, they urged them stop fooling the people with the hypocritical slogans of "law and principle".
For Spanish-speaking people
Visitas
Pyongyang, 1 de abril (ATCC) -- Partieron el dia primero de esta capital la delegacion del Comite Coreano de Relaciones Culturales con el Extranjero presidida por su presidente interino Mun Jae Chol para visitar a paises latinoamericanos y la delegacion de funcionarios del Partido del Trabajo de Corea encabezada por el secretario del Comite del PTC en el Ministerio de Silvicultura Paek Kye Ryong para realizar una visita a China.
Por otra parte, el mismo dia llego a esta capital el secretario general de la "Fundacion Internacional Kim Il Sung", Keith Bennett.
Afiches de primer Festival Artistico Nacional por el Dia de Sol
Pyongyang, 1 de abril (ATCC) -- Se dieron a luz los afiches alusivos al primer Festival Artistico Nacional por el Dia del Sol (15 de abril, cumpleanos del Presidente Kim Il Sung).
Los carteles reflejan la unanime aspiracion y el deseo del pueblo coreano a transmitir de generacion en generacion la noble personalidad del Presidente y sus inmortales hazanas revolucionarias y conmemorar significativamente esa efemeride.
Una pancarta, que describe las flores Kimilsungias y Kimjongilias en pleno florecimiento y la bandera del festival flameando en el cielo azul de la patria del Songun (priorizacion militar), muestra el alma del pueblo coreano tendente a manifestar la ferrea conviccion y voluntad de que el Presidente estara siempre con nosotros y a hacer brillar eternamente las inmortales proezas del Dirigente Kim Jong Il quien alcanzo la causa de eternidad del Lider mediante el festival artistico de todo el pueblo.
Los afiches relativos con los certamenes por sectores reflejan que dicho festival demostrara claramente los aspectos de los artes profesional y masivo que se desarrollan en la epoca del Songun. Estos artes impulsan energicamente la construccion de una gran potencia prospera socialista y hacen reinar en toda la sociedad el romanticismo revolucionario y el espiritu combativo.
En cada afiche estan descritos las letras "Primer Festival Artistico Nacional por el Dia del Sol" y el periodo del festival y dibujada la insignia del certamen.
Rodong Sinmun fustiga a las fuerzas conservadoras de EE.UU.
Pyongyang, 1 de abril (ATCC) -- En su articulo colaborado recientemente para "Wall Street Journal", Bolton, conocido como el halcon mas connotado de Estados Unidos, exigio a las autoridades suspender las conversaciones a 6 bandas e intensificar la presion internacional a Corea.
Esta insistencia de Bolton en dar continuidad a la "primaria estrategia de seguridad" impulsada por EE.UU. antes de las conversaciones a 6 bandas representa la posicion erronea de las fuerzas conservadoras intransigentes que estan disgustadas de esta cita.
Senala asi el diario Rodong Sinmun en un comentario individual de este martes y continua:
Ellas desean unicamente el fracaso de la cita a 6 bandas y el empeoramiento de la situacion justamente cuando la sociedad internacional enfoca su atencion a la reanudacion de estas conversaciones para solucionar el problema nuclear RPDC-EE.UU.
Este imperio es el responsable principal de la tardanza de la ejecucion de los puntos acordados en las conversaciones a 6 bandas.
Esos elementos norteamericanos, que ni siquiera saben lo que se debate en las conversaciones RPDC-EE.UU., hablan tanto de los supuestos "beneficios" y de la "dilacion" en su intento de hacer regresar la situacion al periodo anterior a la cita a 6 bandas al imputar a tontas y a locas toda la responsabilidad a la RPDC.
Tambien piensan estupidamente que podrian obtener alguna concesion si ejercen una presion internacional a Corea.
Si ellos optan por intensificar la politica intransigente y de presion a la RPDC en lugar de resolver el problema mediante el dialogo y las negociaciones, produciran unicamente la quiebra del proceso de desnuclearizacion de la Peninsula Coreana.
En caso de que las fuerzas conservadoras intransigentes lleven a la peor fase la situacion de la Peninsula Coreana y las relaciones RPDC-EE.UU., recaera sobre este imperio toda la responsabilidad de las nefastas consecuencias que emanen de ello.