1. Domestic Affairs

  - North Korea urged for unity of the military and the masses and voiced a sense of crisis as it described the current period as at the brink of a nuclear war. It made the call during a central report meeting and other events held to commemorate on December 24 the inauguration of Kim Jong-il as commander-in-chief of the republic and the birthday of his mother Kim Jeong-sook.

  - North Korea vowed to defend its socialist system and highlighted Kim Jong-il's feat of formalizing the "Kim Il-sung Constitution," as well as the basic law that underlined the military-first revolution. The gesture made a central report session on December 27 marked the 30th anniversary of the "Socialist Constitution" of 1972.

  - North Korea attempted to further solidify the regime's internal unity by building up an anti-US atmosphere in anticipation of the anti-American rallies in the Moranbong Youth Park and elsewhere on December 28, 2002.

  - Jochong-ryon, the pro-Pyongyang Korean residents association in Japan, through its newspaper, Joseon Sinbo, indicated on December 20 the necessity of investment by overseas Korean compatriots in the Gaeseong industrial region, characterizing the nature of the industrial complex as a "testing ground for economic development of the Korean people," and not as a mere introduction of South Korean capital.

2. Relations with South Korea

  - Commenting on the recent presidential election in Korea, North Korea emphasized that the outcome of the election showed that the forces opposing the June 15, 2000 North-South Joint Declaration and instilling anti-North confrontation were doomed. It made the comment as it carried the name of the successful candidate and his party on December 21, two days after the vote in the South.

  - North Korea attempted to drive a wedge between South Korea and the United States and to press home the "unjustifiability" of the US pressures on it. Pyongyang made the effort in the name of its delegation to a recent inter-Korean meeting, when it attributed the lack of progress in the talks to US obstructionism.

  - Through its Central Broadcast and Radio Pyongyang on December 23, North Korea justified its position of reinforcing military capabilities against the United States. It emphasized that its military-first politics constituted a guarantee for national unification and that South Koreans did not feel threatened by its nuclear development program according to an Internet-based opinion survey in the South.

  - North Korea also characterized the anti-American, independence struggles in the South in 2002 as a reflection of "popularized" campaigns.

  - In a written interview with the Joseon Sinbo on December 24, Choi Seong-ik, a North Korean delegate to the inter-Korean ministerial talks, highly rated the outcome of inter-Korean interactions in 2002 and gave an optimistic outlook for relations between the two sides in 2003.

3. External Affairs

  - North Korea intensified its pressure on the United States to respond to its moves by announcing December 22 that it was dismantling the seals and surveillance cameras on the frozen nuclear installations "to generate electricity."

  - Through the Rodong Sinmun and other media outlets, North Korea demanded day after day the United States to apologize and compensate for the capture of its freighter So-san and accused the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for the stand it took to curry favor with the United States.

  - North Korea reinforced collaboration with Russia in the railroad sector as shown by its completion December 3-20 of a joint survey on the rail structure between Wonsan and Mt. Geumgang and subsequent dispatch of a railroad delegation to Russia.

  - It also expressed a positive willingness in the project to revamp railway technologies by committing disbanded soldiers to the "June 4 Factory (Wonsan rolling stock factory)."

  - Chairman Kim Jong-il met with visiting mayor of Moscow Yury Luzhkov December 23 for talks on improved economic relations between North Korea and the Russian Far Eastern Province based on the past Russia-North Korea summit meeting.