TODAY'S NEWS (December.12.2000 Juche 89)
[CONTENTS]
* Joint press statement on establishment of diplomatic relations between
DPRK and UK
* South side's delegation to fourth north-south ministerial-level talks
here
* Delegation of KEDO leaves
* KCNA demands halt to moves to incite inter-Korean confrontation
* Japan's military boss's reckless remark
* Leap forward in potato farming called for
* DPRK delegation visits Korean Hall in Tokyo
* S. Korean students' growing distrust in "National Assembly"
* New historical book published
* Korean people's cause of reunification supported worldwide
* Worsening environmental pollution by U.S. forces in S. Korea
* Abolition of SL called for
* Chilbosan Joint Venture Company commissioned
* International solidarity called for
* Rodong Sinmun on national reunification
* Anti-reunification moves of S. Korea condemned
Joint press statement on establishment of diplomatic relations between DPRK
and UK
Pyongyang, December 12 (KCNA) -- A joint press statement on the
establishment of diplomatic relations
between the DPRK and the United Kingdom was issued today.
The joint press statement reads:
The Democtratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United
Kingdom (UK) held official talks
in London on 7-12 December, 2000.
These talks followed the announcement by Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook,
on 19 October 2000 that the
UK was ready to response positively to the invitation from Foreign Minister
Paek Nam Sun to establish
diplomatic relations with the DPRK.
Agreement was reached in these talks to establish diplomatic relations
between the DPRK and the UK
with immediate effect.
It was agreed that representation would be at ambassadorial level as
soon as each side had made the
necessary arrangements to open a resident mission in the other's capital.
Meanwhile, each side would appoint a non-resident charge d'affaires a.i.
Both sides agreed that the establishment of diplomatic relations would
enable the DPRK and the UK to
develop their bilateral links more effectively, and would provide greater
opportunities for exchanges on issues
of mutual interests and concern.
South side's delegation to fourth north-south ministerial-level talks here
Pyongyang, December 12 (KCNA) -- The south side's delegation headed by
Pak Jae Gyu, Minister of
National Unification, arrived here today to participate in the fourth round
of the north-south ministerial-level
talks.
It was met at the airport by delegates of the north side.
At the airport the south side's delegation issued a written statement
on arrival.
Delegation of KEDO leaves
Pyongyang, December 12 (KCNA) -- The delegation of the Korean Peninsula
Energy Development
Organization (KEDO) that had participated in the high-ranking specialist
negotiations between the DPRK and
KEDO left today by air.
KCNA demands halt to moves to incite inter-Korean confrontation
Pyongyang, December 12 (KCNA) -- There are highly disturbing
developments in South Korea to block
the positive improvement of the inter-Korean relations.
This gives rise to great concern among the public at home and abroad.
The South Korean "Ministry of National Defence" in its "military white
paper for 2000" again advocated
the anti-north "theory of the principal enemy," talking about the
non-existent "military threat" from it. And the
"Minister of National Defence" at a "meeting of leading army officers"
whipped up war hysteria by calling for
strengthened "military posture."
Even the "Ministry of National Unification" supposed to specially
handle the reunification issue in South
Korea conducted an opinion poll in a foolish bid to build up public opinion
critical of the DPRK's political
system.
Meanwhile, the "Unification and Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee of
the South Korean National
Assembly" orchestrated such a provocative anti-north political drama as
"adoption of a resolution urging the
repatriation of POWs of 'ROK' Army and those kidnapped by the north." And
some right-wing conservative
media including "Chosun Ilbo" are chiming in with its smear campaign to fan
up inter-Korean confrontation.
They floated sheer lies about "political propaganda" of the north and
"detention" of a journalist of "Chosun
Ilbo" in an attempt to pull up the north over the reunion of the second
visiting group of separated families and
relatives. All this is part of their moves to mislead the public opinion at
home and abroad and agitate
confrontation.
All the happenings in South Korea are anti-national and
anti-reunification moves to dampen the desire of
the entire nation for reconciliation, cooperation and unity between the
north and south and reunification.
Facts go to prove that all these anti-north rackets in South Korea are
the deliberate and premeditated
moves of those who are displeased with the improving inter-Korean relations.
The South Korean authorities should feel responsible for driving the
inter-Korean relations to the phase
of confrontation and stop such behaviour detrimental to the implementation
of the north-south joint
declaration.
They should resolutely eliminate such anti-national and
anti-reunification elements who whip up
confrontation and war hysteria and immediately withdraw the "theory of the
principal enemy," leftover of the
old era of confrontation obstructive to the on-going process of improving
the inter-Korean relations.
Japan's military boss's reckless remark
Pyongyang, December 12 (KCNA) -- Director general of the Japan Defence
Agency Saito, when
interviewed by Asahi Shimbun, expressed his view on the issue of security
of his country.
He underscored the need to introduce air refueling tanker and "arrange
laws on emergencies," while
referring to the issues of security of Japan and elevating the status of
the defence agency to "ministry of
defence."
His view represents the official position of the Japanese reactionary
ruling quarters to legalize their
moves for militarization and overseas expansion.
It is an undeniable historical fact that Japanese militarism is
threatening the world not as a specter but as a
real aggressor.
As already known, in raising the status of the military mechanism
called defence agency Japan seeks to
reorganize the "Self-Defence Forces" into regular armed forces and
accelerate the introduction of ultra modern
large-size military equipment including air refueling tanker and aircraft
carrier.
What merits particular attention is that Japan is attributing its
frantic moves for the building of huge
armed forces and the modernization of the existing forces aimed to carry
out its overseas military operations
to emergencies in Korea and its other neighbors.
It is known well to everyone that the overall situation in East Asia
and other regions of Asia and the
Pacific is calling for reconciliation and peace and demanding a halt to
arms race since the demise of the Cold
War.
However, Japan drew up a "mid-term arms buildup plan" which requires
the spending of 25,300 billion
yen spread over five years under the pretext of "threat" from others. This
only betrays the war fever and
shameless nature of the Japanese reactionaries.
Japan's undisguised moves to become a major military power and launch
overseas military expansion are
reminiscent of the Japanese imperialists' past frantic maneuvers for
militarization and those moves are going
beyond the danger line.
Japan is well advised to cogitate about the disastrous consequences to
be entailed by its reckless moves
for militarization and overseas aggression.
Leap forward in potato farming called for
Pyongyang, December 12 (KCNA) -- Workers of the Taehongdan county
integrated farm in Ryanggang
Province, northern part of the country, called upon all agricultural
workers across the country to make a new
leap forward in potato farming, bearing deep in mind the great leader Kim
Jong Il's teachings on boosting
potato farming to solve the food problem and give the people the benefit of
potato.
They held a meeting yesterday to carry through the recent on-the-spot
teachings of Kim Jong Il and
vowed to take the lead in potato farming. They ardently called upon all the
agricultural workers throughout
the country to carry out the Worker's Party of Korea policy of making
revolution in potato farming and policy
of double-cropping to make a new turn in agricultural production.
An appeal to the agricultural workers across the country adopted at the
meeting called for selecting high
productive seeds, planting them in the proper season and spraying liquid
manure to make a new turn in potato
cultivation.
One of the basic ways of solving the food problem in a short span of
time is double-cropping, the appeal
said.
It stressed the need to do two-crop farming in Korea with limited
arable land so as to decisively increase
agricultural production.
The Taehongdan county integrated farm is a model farm in potato
cultivation.
Kim Jong Il visited this integrated farm every year from Juche 87
(1998) and opened a new era of
revolution in potato cultivation. He defined seeds, liquid manure and
devotion as the basic way of doing
potato farming.
DPRK delegation visits Korean Hall in Tokyo
Pyongyang, December 12 (KCNA) -- A delegation of the DPRK Measure
Committee for Compensation
to Former "Comfort Women for Army" and Victims of the Pacific War headed by
Hong Son Ok,
chairwoman of the committee and vice-chairwoman of the Korean Society for
Cultural Relations with Foreign
Countries, visited the Korean Hall in Tokyo.
The delegation went to Japan to participate in the "women's
international war crimes tribunal" on Japan's
military sexual slavery now under way in Tokyo.
First vice-chairman So Man Sul and vice-chairman nam sung u of the
central standing committee of the
General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) met the
delegation and conversed with it in a
cordial atmosphere.
S. Korean students' growing distrust in "National Assembly"
Pyongyang, December 12 (KCNA) -- Distrust in the "National Assembly" is
growing deeper among
South Korean students, according to the South Korean newspaper Hangyore.
In a recent opinion poll conducted by Prof. Choe Jong Yon at Dankook
University among over 200
students in Seoul and other local areas on the subject "what view do you
have on the national assembly?"
94.5 per cent of the respondents gave negative answers.
They explained the reasons by saying firstly, "national assemblymen"
seek their own interests, secondly,
they spend time wrangling and thirdly, they are engrossed in corruption.
Meanwhile, when the "National Teachers Union "conducted an opinion poll
on the "trust" in "national
assemblymen" among at least 1,000 high school students across South Korea,
96.2 per cent of them
answered "I don't trust them."
New historical book published
Pyongyang, December 12 (KCNA) -- The Academy of Social Sciences has
recently compiled the book
"History of Development of Korean Musical Instruments."
Scientifically and theoretically systematized in the book in a
chronological order are national musical
instruments made and used by our ancestors for thousands of years from the
period of ancient Korea, the first
ancient state in Korea, to the last period of ri dynasty and to the modern
times.
The book has 5 chapters.
Chapter 1 deals with the historical fact that national musical
instruments in ancient Korea in the early
period of 30th B.C. exerted strong influence on the development of music
and musical instruments in its
neighboring countries.
In its chapters 2 and 3, the book says that the variety of musical
instruments rapidly increased and they
reached a high level in the period of Koguryo and foreign musical
instruments were introduced into palace
music and the form of musical performance developed in the early 12th century.
Its chapters 4 and 5 deal with the method of manufacturing traditional
national musical instruments, and
compilation of many music books written by musical groups and performers
active among people since the
17th century.
The book is of great significance as it provides basic information
about the development of the history of
national musical instruments and the issue of carrying forward and
developing them.
Korean people's cause of reunification supported worldwide
Pyongyang, December 12 (KCNA) -- The Korean people's struggle for
national reunification has been
fully supported by world progressive people this year, too.
A signature campaign was waged worldwide to support the three-point
charter of Korea's reunification
set forth by the President Kim Il Sung and formulated by the great leader
Kim Jong Il.
According to a review of the signature campaign made by the
International Liaison Committee for
Reunification and Peace in Korea (CILRECO) in October, the campaign was
participated in by over 500
political parties, organizations, friendly and solidarity organizations,
regional and international organizations,
and heads of political parties and organizations, parliamentarians, figures
and people from all walks of life in
more than 100 countries.
More than 156.55 million people took part in the campaign in a little
over seven months since the
beginning of the campaign.
The world people supported and welcomed the publication of the historic
north-south joint declaration
and the positive improvement of the north-south relations.
A statement of co-chairmen was issued at the UN Millennium Summit in
welcome of the historic
Pyongyang meeting and the north-south joint declaration and the positive
developments on the Korean
peninsula were appreciated in different countries.
The plenary session of the 55th UN General Assembly unanimously adopted
the north-south joint
resolution "peace, security and reunification on Korean peninsula."
Political parties, organizations, international and regional
organizations and figures of different strata of
many countries hailed the north-south summit and the release of the
north-south joint declaration as a brilliant
fruition of Kim Jong Il's idea of national reunification, fervent love for
the nation, broad magnanimity and
fixed will to reunify the country.
Resolutions on the Korean issue were adopted and the Korean people's
struggle for national reunification
was fully supported at the 6th congress of the Worker's Party of
Bangladesh, the annual convention of the
Worker's Party of Ireland, the second meeting of progressive parties in
European and Asian regions, the 20th
congress of the Socialist People's Party of Mexico, the 15th meeting of the
International Democratic
Lawyers' Association, the 14th meeting of the World Federation of Trade
Unions and the 17th meeting of the
International Union of Students, etc.
Worsening environmental pollution by U.S. forces in S. Korea
Pyongyang, December 12 (KCNA) -- Rim Sang Jin, director of the
secretariat of the Green Federation of
South Korea, in an article contributed to the December 5 issue of a
Japanese paper referred to the serious
environmental pollution caused by U.S. military bases in South Korea.
The article said:
The environmental pollution and noise damage caused by U.S. military
bases present themselves as
serious social problems in South Korea and a large amount of poisonous
substance leaked out from buildings
in the base of the U.S. 8th Army in Seoul to contaminate the River Han this
year.
7.1 per cent of the population in Maehyang-ri, Kyonggi Province, where
there is a firing range of the
U.S. Air Force, are very hard of hearing due to deafening noise and the
soil pollution in the base is serious.
In spite of such damage done to South Korea the U.S. forces do not bear
any responsibility for the
pollution as there is no provision on environmental pollution in the
"Status of Forces Agreement," it added,
and continued:
Now the vigilant attention of South Korean people is directed to the
U.S. forces and they are aware that
these forces are present in South Korea in the interests of the United
States and the world is united in the
struggle against the U.S. military bases.
Abolition of SL called for
Pyongyang, December 12 (KCNA) -- The December 8 issue of the South
Korean newspaper Hangyore
(internet) carried an article entitled "abolition of 'Security Law' should
not be delayed any longer" written by
Kwon O Hon, co-chairman of the Family Movement for Realizing Democracy
(Mingahyop).
Noting that at least 90 prisoners of conscience, who had been active
for democracy, reunification, social
progress and vital rights, are still behind bars, the article said that
different organizations and figures of South
Korea are struggling in demand of the repeal of the SL. Warning that the
"National Assembly" will meet a
strong popular protest, if it turns aside from the issue of the SL this
time, too, the article urged the "national
assemblymen" not to forget their historic missions to achieve national
independence in the era of the June 15
south-north joint declaration.
The article recalled that since its enactment the "Security Law" has
played an evil role in freezing the
division under the anti-north and anti-communist slogans and ensuring the
"security of regimes" of the
successive dictators.
The article strongly demanded that the SL be abolished in the spirit of
the universal declaration of human
rights as part of the specific measures for the implementation of the
south-north joint declaration, all the
prisoners of conscience released and over 300 people removed from the want
list of political offenders.
Chilbosan Joint Venture Company commissioned
Pyongyang, December 12 (KCNA) -- The Chilbosan Joint Venture Company
was commissioned under
the co-sponsorship of the Yulin, Yanji, China, Economic and Commercial
Company Ltd, and the Tumangang
Trading Company of the DPRK.
The company was named after Mt. Chilbo, one of the famous mountains of
Korea, which is situated in
North Hamgyong Province.
The Chinese side sent spring water processing equipment in a bid to
found the company.
A ceremony for commissioning the company was held on the spot on
December 10.
Yun Yon Hwang, manager of the Tumangang Trading Company of the DPRK,
said in his speech that
the commissioning of the joint venture company will positively contribute
to the development of friendship
and cooperation between the two countries.
The general manager of the Yulin, Yanji, China, Economic and Commercial
Company Ltd. Said in his
speech that he extended sincere thanks to the great leader of the Korean
people Kim Jong Il for granting the
foundation and management of the company.
A banquet was given after the ceremony.
International solidarity called for
Pyongyang, December 12 (KCNA) -- International unity and solidarity
among revolutionary parties give
a strong impetus to the progress of the cause of global independence and
guarantee its victory, says Rodong
Sinmun today in a signed article. It refers to questions arising in
strengthening international solidarity among
the revolutionary parties.
The great leader Kim Jong Il clarified that socialist idea and
independence are foundations for achieving
international unity and solidarity among the revolutionary parties, the
article says, and continues:
It is of weighty importance in strengthening unity and solidarity on
the basis of the socialist idea for the
revolutionary parties to take the Pyongyang declaration as their common
action programme. Only when they
wage a struggle with the declaration as their common programme, can they
further strengthen international
unity and solidarity based on the common idea and push ahead with the
socialist cause more dynamically.
The unity and solidarity of the revolutionary parties should be
achieved in a way of respecting the
independence of each party and promoting its independent activities.
It is the principle and norm to be observed by the revolutionary
parties in mutual relations to respect other
parties' independence while maintaining their independence.
The revolutionary parties around the world should achieve victory of
the people's cause of independence,
socialist cause, without fail by strengthening international unity and
solidarity.
Rodong Sinmun on national reunification
Pyongyang, December 12 (KCNA) -- The Korean nation will be more
powerful and prosperous when
national reunification is achieved, says Rodong Sinmun today in a signed
article.
The article goes on:
If the country is reunified, the Korean people will be able to mobilize
all possibilities and potentialities to
the full to build a powerful and prosperous reunified state in the east and
lead a harmonious, happy and
opulent life.
A reunified Korea will proudly rank among developed countries in all
political, economic and military
aspects and demonstrate its dignity and might.
Nobody brings national reunification, the desire of all the Korean
people, and reunification can be
achieved only by the united strength of the whole nation.
All the fellow countrymen in the north, south and overseas should
firmly unite under the banner of
national reunification, the banner of national independence to struggle for
national reunification.
Those with strength should give their strength, those with knowledge
devote their knowledge and those
with money donate their money to make a tangible contribution to the
reunification of the country.
Now that the struggle for national reunification has become an
irreversible powerful trend of the times,
those who have contributed to national reunification have qualifications
and right to enjoy the benefits of
reunified country.
All the fellow countrymen should struggle in the common interests of
the nation irrespective of residence
and class position.
Any Korean should not put narrow-minded factional interests above the
common interests of the nation
but subordinate everything to the struggle for national reunification.
Anti-reunification moves of S. Korea condemned
Pyongyang, December 12 (KCNA) -- Papers here today denounce the
official announcement of a
document "military white paper for 2000," which defines the DPRK as the
"principal enemy," by the South
Korean "Ministry of National Defence" as an unpardonable anti-national and
anti-reunification act and a
deliberate perfidy to the spirit of the north-south joint declaration.
Rodong Sinmun in a signed commentary says it is the height of impudence
and an insult to the partner of
the dialogue that the South Korean authorities are talking about dialogue
and cooperation while defining the
north as the "principal enemy."
The commentary goes on:
If the South Korean authorities seek to harm fellow countrymen, going
against their desire for
reconciliation and cooperation, peace and reunification, success cannot be
expected in the improvement of the
north-south relations and in the settlement of the reunification issue.
When the north opts for reconciliation, cooperation and unity, the
south reacts to this with a dagger,
while defining the other party as the "principal enemy." This makes it
impossible to achieve true reconciliation
and cooperation and improve the north-south relations.
The South Korean authorities should take a sincere stand and position
for national reconciliation, unity
and reunification in the spirit of the June 15 joint declaration they
signed on behalf of the nation.
Noting that dialogue and confrontation, reconciliation and war cannot
go together, Minju Joson stresses
that the implementation of the joint declaration depends on the stand and
position of the South Korean
authorities.
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